Doesn’t it make more sense to keep them in the womb until they have functioning senses?
In: 3
There could be many factors here.
How much nutrients can the mother provide via the placenta? Blood sugar is toxic in high concentrations, and larger fetuses require more energy to sustain – perhaps more than is healthy for the mother.
The birth canal can only facilitate so large of offspring. Having growth continue outside the body may facilitate other survival features of the species (hips that are optimized for sprinting?)
For mammals, nurturing with milk may provide better infant mortality at this particular stage.
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