Lucy

commodore64 · 03-15-2002, 02:37 PM

Ok, this may be a lame question. But, given the different levels of difficulty in birth along the evolutionary ladder, would that suggest we have evolved to make birth harder, controlling the population naturally?

sapienza · 03-15-2002, 03:21 PM

Creatures don't evolve to limit themselves, though. That's the antithesis of evolution.

The thing is, we really don't have to worry (mostly) about the large head size that humans have (in regard to the birth canal) because we've learned to work around it.

If we humans had not been messing with our own evolution, then slowly the genes that allowed for women to have such small birth canals would have been weeded out of the population and the only reproduction would be folks with big heads/their big-hipped mamas and folks with small heads and their mamas.

sapienza

commodore64 · 03-15-2002, 03:31 PM

Makes a ton of sense! Just one of those weird questions that popped into my head in the middle of the day, had to spit it out. Thanks for the insight!

juju · 03-18-2002, 11:09 PM

If the birth canal got too large, we wouldn't be able to retain our balance when standing.

See? Labor pains are a direct result of us being bipedal. We could just have smaller heads, but them we'd be dumber than a box of rocks. Anyway.. for some reason being bipedal is more of an evolutionary advantage than difficult births. So the best compromise we've been able to come up with is to have our kids born very early on in the development process.

commodore64 · 03-18-2002, 11:32 PM

Great point. Definately did not think about that at all! Cool visuals too. Thanks for the reply...much appreciated.

03-15-2002, 02:37 PM	#1
commodore64 Rapscallion Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Beaverton,Oregon Posts: 5	Lucy Ok, this may be a lame question. But, given the different levels of difficulty in birth along the evolutionary ladder, would that suggest we have evolved to make birth harder, controlling the population naturally? __________________ Better to be silent and thought of as a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

03-15-2002, 03:31 PM	#3
commodore64 Rapscallion Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Beaverton,Oregon Posts: 5	Makes a ton of sense! Just one of those weird questions that popped into my head in the middle of the day, had to spit it out. Thanks for the insight! __________________ Better to be silent and thought of as a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

03-18-2002, 11:09 PM	#4
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	If the birth canal got too large, we wouldn't be able to retain our balance when standing. See? Labor pains are a direct result of us being bipedal. We could just have smaller heads, but them we'd be dumber than a box of rocks. Anyway.. for some reason being bipedal is more of an evolutionary advantage than difficult births. So the best compromise we've been able to come up with is to have our kids born very early on in the development process. Last edited by juju; 03-18-2002 at 11:13 PM.

03-18-2002, 11:32 PM	#5
commodore64 Rapscallion Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Beaverton,Oregon Posts: 5	Great point. Definately did not think about that at all! Cool visuals too. Thanks for the reply...much appreciated. __________________ Better to be silent and thought of as a fool, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

03-15-2002, 03:21 PM	#2
sapienza Resident Denizen Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 61	Creatures don't evolve to limit themselves, though. That's the antithesis of evolution. The thing is, we really don't have to worry (mostly) about the large head size that humans have (in regard to the birth canal) because we've learned to work around it. If we humans had not been messing with our own evolution, then slowly the genes that allowed for women to have such small birth canals would have been weeded out of the population and the only reproduction would be folks with big heads/their big-hipped mamas and folks with small heads and their mamas. sapienza

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