28 November, 2009

Human babies

One thing i always wondered is why is it that human babies are so helpless when they're born whereas other animals' young children can walk, run, eat and so on on their own even from day one. Turns out it's because of the size of our brain. A baby's head can only grow so big in a mother's womb before it needs to get born, otherwise it wouldn't fit out anymore. So human children get born a lot earlier compared to other species and therefore with underdeveloped brain functions. Because of that we need a lot of care and help for years to come before we can become self sufficient.