k ol esc EXERCISE 5: Why does age of maturity differ so much among species? Some organisms mature within a year (or even much less), while others can take years. For example, the average age of marturity (first breeding) is around 15 years for elephants, while lemmings can take a month. Elephants take 180 times longer than lemmings! Age of maturity is an important life history trait and is subject to natural selection The trade-offs between the costs and benefits of early versus late maturity to shape the optimal timing of maturity. Key benefits of delayed maturity is that animals gains experience, and for some organisms, they can also grow to a larger size. A cost to delayed maturity is the risk that the animal dies before every reaching maturity. Differences between species in annual mortality rates dramatically affect the cost of delayed maturation. The effect of different survival rates is illustrated with the two columns from life tables shown below One species has a high mortality (50% per year) the oth