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Or is it a physiological change that occurs in the mother after giving birth; one that doesn't change much further on subsequent births? Death rates due to comp
by kstenerud 9y ago
Or is it a physiological change that occurs in the mother after giving birth; one that doesn't change much further on subsequent births? Death rates due to complications after childbirth were quite high during 99.999% of our history. It's not out of the question for there to be an evolutionary adaptation that puts a little extra oomph into the firstborn in case the mother dies before having a chance for a second, even if it caused a higher risk of death (due to giving the embryo more of the mother's resources in vitro) to do so.
- larrik 9y agoI have 2 boys, both adopted, and both biologically the youngest. Yet, "oldest children are more conservative, youngest children are more creative, etc." and the oldest being more intellectually curious describes them perfectly. So, anecdotally, my study of 1 data point says it's probably nuture and not nature.