29 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Altricial Versus Precocial Infants
Not all babies are the same. Human babies are rather helpless, interested mostly in food, sleeping, eating, defecating, and comfort. Compare human babies with newborn deer. When fawns are born, they immediately stand up and soon are able to run away from danger. Scientists call these two types of babies in the animal kingdom altricial and precocial. Altricial infants are born helpless, usually after a short gestation or pregnancy, and their brains tend to be not quite finished. Precocial babi...Two evolutionary strategies for animal infants, born ready versus born helpless but capable of growing into a more advanced state ultimately.