As far as I know we only know of three current races where the young mature at a much faster rate than Human children, Klingons, Ktarians and Ocampa. Now for the Klingons and Ktarians we only have Alexander and Naomi to go on as they are hybrids but at least with the Ocampa we know that as well as faster maturity rate they only live for 9 years and I think it's safe to say that they do have a higher capacity for learning. But what about the races out there, like the Klingons and Ktarians, do all there young have a higher capacity for learning (am I using the right term here?) to be able to mature at a faster rate than Humans so that, say, a Klingon 2 year is at the maturity level of a Human 8 year old. Also, skipping into reality now, is it physically possible to have a humanoid species that has a mental capacity to learn faster and mature at a faster rate but then to ease off upon reaching adulthood?
Races who mature faster in youth
- Thread starter Crewman47
- Start date
Generally speaking, in real life, the faster a species reaches adulthood, the shorter their life expectancy.
If it were real, Molly O'Brian would likely outlive Naomi Wildman, despite being several years older. Just as an example.
But since it's Star Trek, humans apparently have the shortest life-span of any sentient species in the galaxy.
Except the Ocampa. And Jem'hadar.
If it were real, Molly O'Brian would likely outlive Naomi Wildman, despite being several years older. Just as an example.
But since it's Star Trek, humans apparently have the shortest life-span of any sentient species in the galaxy.
Except the Ocampa. And Jem'hadar.
(Only on higher lifeforms, though. For insects, whom we really should mind when speaking "generally", insanely long childhoods followed by eyeblink adulthoods are the norm, and there is no correlation between the lengths of the two stages.)
Are we sure that Klingons or Ktarians mature fast? Or is it just that hybrids mature fast, hence Naomi and Alexander?
Science has yet to fully explain the well-known "hybrid vigor" that follows from separating and then rejoining two breeding lines. Some of that is bound to feature in the breeding of humanoids - and then something extra is in all likelihood going to result from the therapies that make interspecies breeding possible in the first place. That's probably a warning label on the proceptive pills that the hopeful couples pop: "Surgeon General warns that users of this product may experience puberty sooner than they would prefer".
Timo Saloniemi
Yet, the damn things are everywhere! It's hard to find a planet they haven't bred upon... or a species they haven't tried to mate with...
Why should the fast growth trait come from either parent?
Weirder things are known to emerge without being present in the parents. Random combination of genes can produce things that not only didn't manifest in the preceding generations (like a black child for two white parents whose parents were white as well the odds are low but never zero) but in fact never even existed in either parent (like Down's syndrome).
And other species-combinations (mules, ligers, tions) let alone breeding line recombinations do sometimes display abnormally rapid maturing and exceptional vigor.
Timo Saloniemi
Weirder things are known to emerge without being present in the parents. Random combination of genes can produce things that not only didn't manifest in the preceding generations (like a black child for two white parents whose parents were white as well the odds are low but never zero) but in fact never even existed in either parent (like Down's syndrome).
And other species-combinations (mules, ligers, tions) let alone breeding line recombinations do sometimes display abnormally rapid maturing and exceptional vigor.
Timo Saloniemi
True, Naomi's growth could be a case of genetic mutation and not combination.
There's no direct evidence on how rapidly pure Klingons mature, but indirectly, there's some evidence that Klingons don't mature much faster than humans. In "Let He Who is Without Sin", Worf tells Jadzia that when he was 13, he accidently killed a human boy while playing soccer. If Klingons did mature as fast as Klingon/Human hybrids, Worf had no business being on the field with other boys.
Perhaps Naomi's Mom is from the same alternate realty that Soap Opera's exist in. Humans there go from infants to adults in about 10 years. (being sent away to school tends to trigger this)
Actually, Molly O'Brien did some "super soap opera aging" of her own! She was a babe in arms during the last few years of TNG and elementary school age in DS9.
All Seeing Eye
Admiral
Has anyone mentioned the Xindi Insectoids? they only had a small lifespan of a few years and relied on laying lot and lots of eggs in order to continue their species.
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