I just skimmed through the thread, which I had read before, and I dont think amyone mentioned this yet. What if this is some sort of evolution happening right before our eyes. People would be quick to dismiss it, but we really never know.

Just like the tasmanian devil, they were dying off with some sort of cancer at an alarming rate, and therefore they evolved and started breeding at a younger age. I believe they were breeding at 3 to 4 years before and now they are breeding succesfully at a year or less. This ladies and gentleman is evolution.