As I read the article, the information is that modern birds have faster growth rates, but delay reproduction for some years. I'm not sure how anyone can reach the conclusion that flying reptiles benefited from early sexual maturity due to their growth rate. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. I'm not sure how we can tell.
“I’m not sure how we can tell.”LOL.I’m not sure either.Sounds like pure conjecture on their(his)part.Call me jaded,but I think a lot(a few?)of these PhD’s feel the need to come up with novel or profound theories/discoveries to publish in peer reviewed publications and/or get a grant for further study.I’m still scratching my a@@ over the “Hobbit People”.
You’re right... It’s not clear at all (at least from this article) how they came to these conclusions about their sexual habits. I’m guessing (hoping?) there was more evidence that the reporter didn’t bother including either because they were lazy, or didn’t realize that it was an essential part of the explanation! LOL
The other thing that’s interesting is that if these animals had a life-span of only about 10 years, that would kind of “knock out” the theory that they were still “youths” at the time of sexual maturity. Compared to humans, yeah of course, but for animals? Ridiculous...