Re: Bipedalism and theorizing... was Re: Morgan and creationists

T&B Schmal (schmal@firstnethou.com)
Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:28:28 +0000

In article <01bba363$900ecf00$152470c2@jdwaters.dircon.co.uk>, "John
Waters" <jdwaters@dircon.co.uk> wrote:

The agency of force
> would be maternal instinct, one of the strongest instincts known
> among mammals. The hominid nursing females would feel
> compelled by their maternal instincts to carry their dependent
> infants from feeding place to feeding place. Those who didn€t,
> would not bequeath their genes to the future population gene
> pool.
>

Interesting, and maybe solid. The human infant got weaker as a kind of
ploy to retain the attention of the mother, thus deferring the perils of
being out on his own?
I can think of two possibly related examples: pigeons, which do not leave
the nest until almost full-size; and a baby's cry, which is soooo
irritating it demands more of a mother's attention, thus offsetting the
danger of making such a racket. Overall, though, it would seem that if
being such a helpless infant is a survival plus, then why don't we see it
in lion cubs and monkeys also - the plan should work for all mammal
infants.

Tom Schmal