Feature Creep / Scope Creep

Biological Parallel

The Irish Elk evolved increasingly massive antlers through runaway sexual selection—each generation adding size to compete for mates, until antlers reached 12 feet wide and consumed so much calcium and energy that the species went extinct when climate shifted. The elk couldn't stop because each increment seemed beneficial; the accumulated burden only revealed itself catastrophically. Feature creep follows identical runaway dynamics: each addition seems small and justified, but cumulative complexity eventually collapses maintainability, just as antler mass collapsed the elk's adaptive capacity when environmental pressures changed.