Search: why do animals have litters
Why: I don't know. I think I had a nightmare about a horse placenta. Dogs and cats have litters, but horses and human ladies usually only have 1 or 2 babies at a time - unless they were having trouble conceiving and selfishly implanted themselves with fertilization treatments instead of adopting abandoned babies who are already alive.
Answer: For one thing, a litter helps protect the animal from predation, aka getting eaten by other animals. It's not that the baby animals won't get eaten (because they probably will), but like if a snake eats 3 baby bunnies, but there are still 5 left, its parents didn't waste a whole breeding season.
Another reason is because it helps natural selection or whatever. The strongest and healthiest baby animals compete most successfully for food and space, often leaving the weaklings and runts to die from lack of care. If there are 8 nipples and 12 baby mice, a few might just starve to death. The mother doesn't interfere.
Biologically, an animal that can have a litter has a bicornuate (two-horned) uterus designed to handle multiple embryos. In a human, this is considered a defect and can cause problems with fertility.
Source: Wikipedia, MadSci Network
The More You Know: In human multiple births, there is a weaker "runt," but human parents take care to make sure that both or all babies get the same equal start. The more babies, however, the more likely it is that there will be a noticeable physical difference in the runt. I'm looking at you, Aaden.
For your information, it is not selfish to get artificial fertilization. For one reason, parents want to feel a physical blood connection with their children and cannot do so with an adopted child. Secondly, adopting a child can go for tens of thousands of dollars while artificial fertilization is significantly cheaper. And lastly, not all parents are approved for adoption because some agencies are too picky.
ReplyDeleteI actually consider that as selfish- You do not. It is a matter of opinion. I don't care for "blood connection". I think parents who adopt children are significantly more unselfish.That is my opinion as it is the author's opinion.. In truth, I don't understand why people insist on having children of their own when we already have an over-populated planet.
ReplyDeleteUr obviously not a parent.
ReplyDeleteIf an adoption agency, or perhaps more than one adoption agency, thinks someone isn't fit to care for children, maybe they are not fit to care for children. I think its selfish that people think they "deserve" to have children just because they want to. Not everyone should be a parent. It's selfish not to consider the impact your potentially shitty parenting might have on that child. Contrary to popular belief, love is not enough to raise a decent human being with the emotional skills to succeed in life.
ReplyDelete