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Yes, I was not aware of this difference between primates and other mammals. I had always wondered why pregnancy was so much more of an ordeal for humans. I had
by rcthompson 12y ago
Yes, I was not aware of this difference between primates and other mammals. I had always wondered why pregnancy was so much more of an ordeal for humans. I had previously heard the explanation that our giant brain-filled heads can barely fit through the birth canal, which leading to lots of deaths during delivery, and also explains why we are born with overlapping unfused bone plates in our skulls. But obviously that doesn't account for everything else that can go wrong during pregnancy, so it was always a partial explanation at best. Interestingly, though, both explanations trace back to our species' evolution toward having bigger brains.
- joeclark77 12y agoGenesis 3:16 also explains it as one of the curses on Adam and Eve: "To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children..."
- biomcgary 12y agoFor several decades, the simultaneous evolution of the pelvis to support bipedal locomotion and a larger cranium was the leading hypothesis for the selective constraints on birth timing (known as the obstetrical dilemma). Recently, however, a hypothesis that focuses on metabolism and efficient energy transfer from mother to child through the placenta vs feeding has become popular (the EGG hypothesis. Yes, that is the actual acronym from the literature).