Quote Originally Posted by paulh View Post
Just a guess here. Warmer temps (within limits) means faster growth. Faster growth means greater oxygen consumption. Maybe the cooler temps near the end of embryonic life is to lower oxygen consumption at this time. End of gestation is the time the embryos are biggest and have the highest oxygen needs, everything else being equal. There is a limit as to how much oxygen can be carried to the embryos.
That makes sense.