Its actually around ten months! 40 weeks. I don’t know why everyone thinks its 9 months. I used to think it was 9 months too until my friend who was having a baby pointed it out to me that it was 40 weeks.
I dont know why it takes that long but if I had to guess I would say its probably because humans can only eat so much in a day, the energy needs to be transferred to the baby and that takes time. Also the larger the animal is, the longer it seems to take. This could be because it takes longer to grow a larger animal.
Its probably got something to do with brain size too. The bigger your brain is at birth, the longer you need to be in the womb. This is probably because you really need the womb’s protected environment for your brain to develop properly. We know this because if you are born too early, there is a risk of brain damage.
hi think Jennifer is right. The amount of energy needed and the size or complexity of the animal. For example a baboon pregnancy only lasts 6 months, compared to 9 (or 10) months for human.
Pregnancy periods (a.k.a. gestation) are interesting because as the other scientists have pointed out, different species have different time periods in which the pregnancy lasts. Marsupials are really interesting because they have a very short gestation and the baby is born without fur, blind and very undeveloped. They are able to be born like this because of the marsupial pouch. The baby is able to crawl up into the pouch and continue its development whilst suckling the milk.
Maybe humans wouldn’t take 10 months to have a baby (thanks for the info @Jennifer) if they just had a pouch!
Its a pretty complex thing I guess. Elephants take two years
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Its actually around ten months! 40 weeks. I don’t know why everyone thinks its 9 months. I used to think it was 9 months too until my friend who was having a baby pointed it out to me that it was 40 weeks.
I dont know why it takes that long but if I had to guess I would say its probably because humans can only eat so much in a day, the energy needs to be transferred to the baby and that takes time. Also the larger the animal is, the longer it seems to take. This could be because it takes longer to grow a larger animal.
Its probably got something to do with brain size too. The bigger your brain is at birth, the longer you need to be in the womb. This is probably because you really need the womb’s protected environment for your brain to develop properly. We know this because if you are born too early, there is a risk of brain damage.
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hi think Jennifer is right. The amount of energy needed and the size or complexity of the animal. For example a baboon pregnancy only lasts 6 months, compared to 9 (or 10) months for human.
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Pregnancy periods (a.k.a. gestation) are interesting because as the other scientists have pointed out, different species have different time periods in which the pregnancy lasts. Marsupials are really interesting because they have a very short gestation and the baby is born without fur, blind and very undeveloped. They are able to be born like this because of the marsupial pouch. The baby is able to crawl up into the pouch and continue its development whilst suckling the milk.
Maybe humans wouldn’t take 10 months to have a baby (thanks for the info @Jennifer) if they just had a pouch!
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