"Imagine a Lioness with a super strong maternal instinct. That would serve her well normally, but lets say her pride collapses, leaving her with no opportunity to breed. Out of desperation to fulfil an urge that has no outlet she might adopt the young of one of her normal prey as a surrogate cub. The thing is, there are documented instances of lionesses doing just this."

Might be an interesting side effect of instincts and behavioural physiology but it does nothing to further the survival of her genes.

As is the case with homosexuality in humans.

A more fit lioness is such a situation would be better served to try and gain acceptance into another pride of lions.

And indeed a lioness that had the necessary social skills to enable her to gain acceptance by another pride of lions, should her own pride be wiped out, would add a clear survival advantage to her species.

Compared to a lioness that remains alone and adopts the yound of another species as a surrogate to her materhnal instincts.

Well the smart pride of lions would lay about in the sun enjoying
themselves. They'd keep an eye on the herd and make sure they were
doing well. They would thin down the excess population to suit
the amount of grass available. They'd have lots of sex to enjoy
life, but make sure that there were no more lions then the herd
could feed. Life would be a breeze for both lions and the herd.

Sadly humans have not yet evolved to that kind of intelligence.

Boylesy
Many life forms have become extinct over the life of our little planet and the planet survived. Humans are just another life form,but different in that we have the power to understand how we are destroying the natural resources which make it possible for us to exist. I am confident that the planet will look after itself even if if has to get rid of us.

Dear Peace,

The technology of large-scale industrialisation poses two major problems. First, it generates pollution of the natural environment,
threatening or destroying life in a chain reaction that can run from the tiniest microorganism to human beings. Second it depletes natural resources such as wood, oil, and minerals, many of which are in short
supply and cannot be replaced. The question that arises is whether a world population that will keep on growing and this produce many more people to consume and pollute - perhaps more profligately than they do at present - can be supported by the environment?

As our "needs" increase, our capacity for exploitation expands. We are so used to exploiting natural resources and dumping our waste products into the environment that we frequently forget that resources
are limited and exhaustible and that pollution can disrupt the ecological balance on which our survival depends.