War in the womb
- Kind
- Internet Article
- Date
- 8/4/2014
- Retrieved
- Aug 8, 2014
2 memes from this reference
Invasive Blood-Seeking Fetuses in Mammals
In most mammals, the mother’s blood supply remains safely isolated from the foetus. It passes its nutrients to the foetus through a filter, which the mother controls. The mother is a despot: she provides only what she chooses, which makes her largely invulnerable to paternal manipulation during pregnancy. In primates…
The Mother's Womb Tests the Viability of the Fetus
Given the invasive nature of pregnancy, it’s perhaps not surprising that the primate womb has evolved to be wary of committing to it. Mammals whose placentae don’t breach the walls of the womb can simply abort or reabsorb unwanted foetuses at any stage of pregnancy. For primates, any such manoeuvre runs the risk of…