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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My wife had two deliveries. The first labour was over a day and very stressful in hospital. The second from start to finish was less than 10 minutes. So fast blood all over our bed at home etc. My wife thinks the second is what it should be.
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Lots of good explanations for physically why but the core issue really is a lack of natural selection.
We have modern medicine that saves lives. Other animals in nature typically do not. Only those able to pass genes down that promote traits that allow for a smooth birth reproduce.
“The comedy of man starts like this:
Our brains are way too big for our mothers’ hips
And so nature, she devised this alternative:
We emerge half-formed and hope whoever greets us on the other end
Is kind enough to fill us in
And babies, that’s pretty much how it’s been ever since
Now the miracle of birth leaves a few issues to address
Like, say, that half of us are periodically iron deficient
So somebody’s gotta go kill something while I look after the kids
I’d do it myself, but what, are you gonna to get this thing its milk?
He says as soon as he gets back from the hunt, we can switch
It’s hard not to fall in love with something so helpless
Ladies, I hope we don’t end up regretting this”
“Pure Comedy” – Father John Misty
It’s called the obstetric dilemma. There is selective pressure to prevent hips from getting too wide so that we can walk upright effectively, and at the same time, evolution has favored people with big brains. To solve for those competing priorities, we give birth early to underdeveloped infants and depend on cooperation with others to facilitate a more difficult delivery process.
Because Eve, that manipulative tart, tricked Adam into eating that apple. Read your Bible!
/s
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.
In addition to what others have said:
Humans have a high success rate for reaching adulthood. There is no environmental pressure for us to mass-produce offspring (in the hopes that one makes it to adulthood). In other words, slow reproduction rates did not hinder our ancestors.
Not all other mammals can pop out offspring easily all the time. If you’d ever lived on a dairy farm you’d have seen any number of difficult calvings. It happens.
This is slightly off topic, but sort of relevant. Reading the comments below sort of made me think about how much earlier civilisations including cave women would squat while giving birth. And, that it has been scientifically proven time and time again that squatting and kneeling makes labour much easier as it aligns the pelvis and muscles used during labour. But, i feel like in modern days, it’s become the norm to give birth whilst lying down, or do the hospital always suggest women to do that? Every time you see a birth on TV or a movie, they’re always lying down? Or, is squatting and kneeling much more common than i think?
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