[lumost]

No known mechanism, but cross species checks would imply that the schedule was evolved and has some control mechanism.

Species that evolved before the Devonian period tend not to age and instead grow through their entire lives. There is no mechanistic understanding for the wild variation in species lifespans.

So the natural question in these studies is what would happen if we simply told the muscles not to age this way. It’s plausible that this aging schedule evolved due to other factors independent of the biological constraints. It’s also plausible that evolution removed some other important components for longer lived stem cells.

[nanomonkey]

Interesting, the Devonian also appears to be the period at which fish started sporting limb like appendages and muscle structures, and other animals started to explore land. Perhaps unlimited body growth doesn't work well for animals not entirely supported by water.

[Nevermark]

Interestingly, the limbless boa constrictor's growth slows, but never stops.

[Nevermark]

I misread that as the "Denisovan period" and found it interesting that in addition to Homo Floresiensis Hobbits, there might have been arbitrarily large Denisova Hominin giants. Oh well.

I will have to be satisfied with Andre the Giant.