…huh. Y’know, I had never read that, but it’s almost exactly the same as the explanation I just came up with in response to a question in the comments to my entry on gender. Well, there you go; it *must* be a reasonable explanation!
(For the interest of other readers, here is a link to the Cave of Dragonflies discussion, the question I was asked, and the answer I gave)
Q: How do you reckon the whole “holding incense” works? Because it seems to be some sort of drug which caused pokemon to form new under-developed species which they previously could not (for example, breeding a sudowoodo in GSC or Emerald would not get you a Bonsly, as rock incense did not exsist).
A: That’s more or less the same explanation I came up with when I tried to puzzle it out, but the idea of deliberately giving a Pokémon drugs that stunt the growth of its offspring is so wildly out of step with the rest of the series that I have trouble accepting it. For an explanation that makes sense from an ecological perspective… it could be that those ‘baby’ forms represent a slower growth to maturity which is, in the long term, healthier for the Pokémon, but also requires greater parental investment in the offspring, and is therefore only suitable in times of conspicuous environmental benevolence. The incense stimulates the Pokémon’s body in the same way as those positive environmental conditions, prompting the release of hormones that cause offspring to develop more slowly.
Pokémaniacal 