How come certain animals (horses, moose, cows) can walk as soon as they’re born and humans can’t?
In: Biology
Humans are actually born fairly under-developed compared to many animals.
The reason for this has something to do with the way we walk: “developed” requires a larger head, but a larger head requires a larger pelvis to fit through during birth. At the same time, pregnant women have enough trouble getting around with a normal-sized baby; while animals that walk on four feet don’t have so much of an issue, it would be difficult for pregnant women to carry much larger babies.
So it’s a trade-off: we finish our development outside the womb, after birth, and our mothers have to take close care of us–in exchange for them being able to walk upright and not have a birth with a risk of killing the child or breaking the mother’s pelvis.
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