Costly weaponry can drive a species extinct when resources degrade.

Evidence

Once the rewards for big weapons plummet, selection starts to favor rapid reductions in weapon size. In theory, if populations with costly weapons fail to lose them fast enough, they may even suffer extinction. We will never know exactly what happened to the majestic Irish elk, for example, but the latest attempts to model costs of antler growth indicate that antlers had reached a very expensive extreme, in which even the most successful males barely managed to recoup their calcium and phosphorus losses before the onset of winter. This, combined with climate reconstructions showing a dramatic decrease in the mineral contents of the plants the elk foraged, raises the possibility that a change in habitat pushed populations into a place where they could no longer afford to pay the price of their extravagant weapons. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 437

Categorization

• XREF: The Irish elk’s giant antlers as potential extinction factor — a striking case of weapons becoming unaffordable. — connects to: Extreme antler growth in extinct giant deer carried severe metabolic and mineral costs; Climate-driven food decline may have tipped costly antler growth toward extinction; Evolved weapon giants like brontotheres and rhinos mostly went extinct — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 274 (+3 more)

Related

• Climate-driven food decline may have tipped costly antler growth toward extinction (similarity 0.92)
• Weapons evolve only when reproductive benefits exceed costs (similarity 0.86)
• Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons (similarity 0.85)
• Evolved weapon giants like brontotheres and rhinos mostly went extinct (similarity 0.85)
• Excessive military spending can bankrupt a superpower just as oversized antlers bankrupt elk (similarity 0.85)
• Reproductive success, not survival, drives the largest animal weapons (similarity 0.84)
• Losing the ecological context of competition can make extreme weapons vanish. (similarity 0.84)
• Specific ecological circumstances must align before weapon arms races begin (similarity 0.84)
• Extreme antler growth in extinct giant deer carried severe metabolic and mineral costs (similarity 0.84)
• Bigger weapons usually fail because their costs outweigh their benefits (similarity 0.83)
• Animal weapons evolved to extremes far beyond practical size (similarity 0.83)
• Weapons grow late because development prioritizes mandatory survival expenses first (similarity 0.83)
• Species with huge weapons often show weak current selection on them. (similarity 0.83)
• Extreme weapons evolved independently across roughly three thousand species (similarity 0.83)
• Growing large weapons diverts resources and stunts other body parts (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Competition for reproduction drives evolution of nature’s biggest weapons #qualifies (0.45) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 136