Is it because of the whole big head/bipedalism thing? Other mammals can pop out babies in no time and it seems like that would be way more advantageous for multiple reasons (less stress on mom and baby, not in a vulnerable position for hours in the wild, etc). Why does the norm skew towards a day rather than hours?
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You’ve already given a good and probably best answer when you asked this question.
During labor, a mother is particularly vulnerable to predators. She has reduced ability to run or face a predator. Animals who don’t have other ways to mitigate this vulnerability will have strong selective pressure to minimize time in labor.
No such pressure applies to humans. Humans aren’t unique in this respect. Elephant labor can last several days. Not coincidentally, there are no animals (forgetting humans for a minute) that attack a herd of elephants.
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