does it serve a purpose for us to still have them aside from the obvious? i mean after birth. what about for animals *not* having them once they’re born? i was wondering specifically about rats and puppies. i’ve had both as babies and they all had a little black spot for a week or two, then it disappeared for good. when the rats were still pink with no fur i actually saw the black spot dissipate over time within like a week and a half or so
In: Biology
All placental mammals have belly buttons. Some are very small scars, some are large, but no placental mammal avoids cord attachment.
Humans have larger umbilical cords relative to dogs and rats, so our belly button is much bigger and can’t go away like theirs do. Our primate cousins also have similar belly buttons to ours, and larger mammals like horses, elephants etc. have visible belly buttons.
Relative to humans, you have to look for them harder in other placental mammals, but dogs and rats specifically most definitely do have belly buttons.
I want to add a question on top of this. I saw birth in a movie once and they cut the cord kinda in the middle, what happens to the rest of the cord that is inside the mother? Where does it lead to? Is it cut again?
My goats gave birth two weeks ago to four amazing little babies. Each one has an umbilical cord attached, but they’re much thinner than human cords. One of them already shriveled up and fell off of one of the babies; I’ll report back soon to see if I can see/get a picture of a belly button!
Dogs & cats have belly buttons, you just have to move around their fur to find it. It looks like a little round scar & barely noticeable. I did have a dog one time who had an outie & it was so cute.
Other warm blooded animals do have belly buttons, they’re just hidden under fur or feathers. Belly buttons are a scar from where the umbilical cord was and in quadrapedal species they are usually a pale, flat, round scar. Sometimes they can have an “outie” too where there is a small raised disk of scar tissue. In bipedal animals like humans innie belly buttons sink into the surrounding abdominal flesh and that’s why they look like that.
Outside of humans you’ll generally hear the belly button be referred to as an umbilicus, but it is the same thing as a belly button.
*Technically* most land animals are probably beetles and ants, which are born from eggs and so they don’t have umbilical chords.
But that’s a stupid answer and pedantic.
The real answer is that among placental mammals, most have a significant amount of body hair and rarely show their bellies except when entirely at ease, so you simply don’t have a chance to find the small scar of their belly button.
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