exsisting

[Taka]

There is plenty of evidence to support the thesis of a species-determined limit to life span. Among the most obvious clues is the great variability in the maximum attainable age between animal groups, existing coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species.

About 'existing',

question #1: What 'exists' here? The maximum attainable age between animal groups?
question #2: About the usage of the adjective 'coincident' after the intransitive 'exist(ing)', is it grammatically the same kind as, say, 'young' in 'He died young'? Or is it something else?

 

[JohnParis]

question #1: What 'exists' here? The maximum attainable age between animal groups?
No, just the animal groups.

question #2: About the usage of the adjective 'coincident' after the intransitive 'exist(ing)', is it grammatically the same kind as, say, 'young' in 'He died young'? Or is it something else?
I would understand this sentence more easily if it were written as: "...between animal groups, each of which exists [STRIKE]existing[/STRIKE] coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species.

 

[Taka]

About #2, it seems like we basically have the same idea. Thanks.

About #1

question #1: What 'exists' here? The maximum attainable age between animal groups?
No, just the animal groups.

then what exactly does 'the each animal group exists coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species' mean?

 

[JohnParis]

Q: then what exactly does 'the each animal group exists coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species' mean?

A: "...that each animal group exists in agreement with - in harmony with the highly specific longevity of each individual species."

Does this answer your question, Taka?

John

 

[Taka]

Q: then what exactly does 'the each animal group exists coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species' mean?

A: "...that each animal group exists in agreement with - in harmony with the highly specific longevity of each individual species."

Does this answer your question, Taka?

John

Does it simply mean that each animal group has specific longevity?

 

[JohnParis]

More context would help, but no, I would say that it means each animal group exists in harmony with the highly specific longevity of each species.

Does this answer your question, Taka?

John

 

[Taka]

I'm trying to make things clearer, John.

Does it mean that longevity is species-dependent?

And here 'each animal group' is not a synonym for 'each species'?

 

[Tdol]

Was that written by a native speaker?

 

[Taka]

No clue.

For your information, here is the rest of what I've got:

...Another suggestive biological observation is the average number of offspring of any animal form, which proves to be inversely related to the form's maximum life span. An animal like man, needing not only considerable period of pregnancy but an extraordinarily long time before its young are biologically independent, requires a prolonged reproductive life span to ensure survival of the species, and that is exactly what we have been given. Humans are the longest-living mammals.

You don't think it's written by a native speaker?

Written by a native speaker or not, could you explain what the sentence in questionーthe one with 'existing coincident' aboveー really means, tdol?

 

[Tdol]

I don't think it's a native speaker.

What they mean is that the two things exist alongside each other- the considerable variations of lifespan found in different species and the relatively restricted lifespan within a species. This is evidence for the thesis.

 

[5jj]

I don't think it's a native speaker.

British/American/Canadian/Australian/NZ/etc scientists and sociologists don't count as native speakers.;-)

 

[Taka]

I don't think it's a native speaker.

OH, you don't think so. I see.

It seems like you think what exists coincident with the highly specific longevity of each individual species is not animal groups as John says but the great variability, don't you, tdol?

 

[Taka]

British/American/Canadian/Australian/NZ/etc scientists and sociologists don't count as native speakers.;-)

Then it would follow that there are very few native speakers I've ever seen.:lol: