Re: Titanosaur eggs

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Sat, 21 Nov 1998, William Monteleone wrote:
> It looks like ontogeny sets the stage for the look of the neonate.
> They grow oversized eyes and heads because that's the way the tissues
> develop best in preparation for life. 

Yes.  And this is true more for the skull, eyes, and brain than
other body parts such as limbs.  A good hypothesis for why this is true is
because there is a limitation in the amount of gross structural changes
and development in an up-and-running brain, i.e., the brain must be in a
more finished state at birth.  Incidentally, an interesting fact which may
bear on this is that the bigger a species' brain is the more white matter
vs grey matter it has.  In other words, the proportion of the brain
devoted to connections is bigger than actual sensory, associative, or
motor neurons.   

> Then in animals where parental
> involvement evolves, the parent's learn, or evolve appropriate
> behaviours and responses to this look. But that's secondary.

And in some species that look is so desirable they may also breed _other_
species to fulfill this desire, eg., humans and lapdogs.