"This is why, as soon as sexual maturity ceased being the only pertinant issue, we headed down the path where ones ability in fisticuffs determines what is ethical and moral."

"Um. Plenty of animal species have sexually mature young who are involuntarily celibate.
Obviously there must be an adequate safety margin between the replacement breeding success, and the breeding capacity under favourable conditions (replacing losses or settling new habitat)."

Humans are notable for their ability to make inhospitable habitats hospitable and thus to reduce external factors.

"One density-dependent feedback mechanism is of course mortality, of young and adults, due to hunger and infectious illnesses."

Humans too.

"There are many animals who under unfavourable conditions for breeding desist from trying and try to survive to better times, rather than try and fail in breeding."

Easier done when mating is based on seasonal signs and health cues rather than 24/7 horniness.

I'm sure that environmental stressors may cue many female animal species to cease displaying signs of being in heat, or may interfere with instinctual responsiveness in the male.

But we also aren't clownfish whose numbers of trannies depend on environmental factors favoring one gender over another. :)

"Notably among the polygynous animals, breeding is often limited to a small fraction of alpha males who keep the beta males involuntarily celibate. Where these beta males are adult, sexually mature, perfectly capable of breeding if alpha males disappeared."

Humans are more geared for pair-bonding. But this one still falls under the category of sexual maturity coinciding with the ability to beat up dear old dad.

OTOH, humans are social animals too. So the Alpha Male might not be the biggest baddest lion in the pride, but a relatively strong chimp who knows to make sure that his butcher and more influential friends are groomed more regularly and receive choice pickings from the food supply.

"And although males can produce more offspring than females, females must also be able to produce more than their replacement. And under conditions where they cannot, beta females often also do not breed."

And the poisoning of rival heirs in Ottoman harems proves that this is true in humans as well.

But humans are not birds or cats. Our sex drive operates 24/7. And our history is one of reshaping our environments to suit our needs. Human history is further one massive success story to reduce the murder rate and increasingly eliminate the distinctions between the haves and have nots. Fewer human die a violent death now than ever before in history. Most of the world's poor live better lives that the rich did a millennia ago.

And yet then the age to marry and reproduce was approx 13. Now that the stressors are less the AoC and AoM has gone UP?

That's not Ghod or nature. That is human perversity fighting against Ghod and nature.

Dante