Cross Breeds

Is it possible that extinct animals young may have taken longer to be advanced than most animals now?

In considering the level of advancement of animal young, they take less time to advance to 'adult' capabilities than humans. Is this because the level of 'advancement' of a creature takes longer depending on how advanced the creature potentially is, or could it be that evolution has made extinct animals who's young took too long to be fully advanced and therefore became victims to predators/injury/disease than those animals which matured more quickly?

Public Comments

1. YES I NEED TO EXPAND ON THAT.i came to the conclusion YES
2. i've heard that dinosaurs probably matured very slowly.
3. Not necessarily. Firstly, mass extinctions like the CT (Cretaceous-Tertiary) and others (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event) aside; the most common reasons for extinction are due to rariety. A highly specialized organism that's very depended on a particular niche or food source is more likely to become extinct - regardless of its maturity rates. In part, you'd be correct, in that those species that have offspring which are slower to mature (known as K-strategists) are higher on the food chain and therefore more vulnerable to changes lower down the chain. This, as well as the fact that there are fewer of these species - being at the top of the pyramid - means that major changes in population can alter their genetic variability (through a process known as bottle-necking) and make them more prone to disease epidemics and the like in future. Animals that have many offspring do not take care of them, but rather leave them to fend for themselves. Infant mortality in these species (known as r-strategists) is extremely high, but sheer numbers prevail and enable the survival of the species. To conclude, I would argue that the time to maturity doesn't in itself impact extinction (these animals generally have very protective parents who will teach them about the world and provide the necessary skills for survival) - but the fact that their position in the food chain and subsequent lower population numbers does. By all means read more at the Wikipedia link below. Good luck! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction
4. We mature slowly for a reason. We mature slowly so that our parents have time to teach us all we need to know before we become adults. This delayed puberty means that we can have a bigger brain and learn more before trying to make it on our own. It is in fact an adaptive advantage for us. Some animals need to run as soon as they are born. Those animals are born ready to do just that. They live were they are unprotected and have little space to hide (cattle, antlope, etc.). Some animals can afford to take a little longer because they can be placed in a protected area such as a nest. Even so they take less time than humans. Most paleontologists believe dinosaurs grew and matured VERY rapidly.