Kathy D. wrote:

<Remember that evolution through natural selection operates to maximize the
number of offspring.  Human females have very limited reproductive capacity
compared to any other animal -- 9 months for gestation, at least 3 years of
lactation for a good chance of surviving (prior to formula and modern
medicine), and only about 30 years (15-45 years of age) for reproducing in.
Thus, you were lucky if you were able to have 6-8 children.>

Just a reminder, natural selection and evolution work on populations, not
individuals.  Genotypes increase in populations when they confer some
benefit that gets them expressed in the next generation.  Therefore, the
more individuals that have a "genotype" that expresses itself with early
menarche, the more children they are able to bear and the increase in that
"genotype" in the next and future generations.

.02 from a biological anthropologist/population geneticist/mom


Alicia, LLLL in the Bluegrass (Lexington, KY)
aka Post Poster and AS for Kentucky
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