Quote Originally Posted by Callinon View Post
Could also be sexual selection. It's the reason humans grow excessively long hair on their heads when there's absolutely no evolutionary advantage to doing so... it was more attractive. Could be the same for Au'ra. An ancient Au'ra ancestor could have sported a more heavily armored body, but over time less armor and more skin became more sexually attractive and so that's the trait that was passed on even if direct survival and natural selection wouldn't have gone that way.

It makes me wonder if, because Hyurs appear to always be the most populous race even way back when (Allagans appeared mostly Hyuran), that eventually ancient Au Ra and Hyur mixed enough to dilute the scales. A second generation half-breed now 'barely has any scales' according to the quest from Sui-no-Sato, which means the scale gene must be very recessive.