Thanks for the cached explanation, this is similar to what I thought before a few days ago. But now I’m thinking that an older-but-still-youthful mouse would be better at avoiding predators and could be just as fertile, if mice were long lived. So the food & shelter might be “better spent” on them, in terms of total expected descendants. This would only leave the disease explanation, yes?
Thanks for the cached explanation, this is similar to what I thought before a few days ago. But now I’m thinking that an older-but-still-youthful mouse would be better at avoiding predators and could be just as fertile, if mice were long lived. So the food & shelter might be “better spent” on them, in terms of total expected descendants. This would only leave the disease explanation, yes?