Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Jessica Krueger's picture

For example, mammals have

For example, mammals have mammary glands. The fact that we put the baby against our breasts to feed them is a conscious thing. The whole maternal usage of mammary glands is instinct.

I'm not sure what your argument is overall, but I think I agree to a certain degree. While breastfeeding is inherently mammalian (baring platypuses), it often requires overt, verbal instruction to get a human female to breast feed her infant properly. However, I would argue that "knowledge" is a pretty exclusively human concept and that there are plenty of mammal-females who are very adept at nursing without any instruction. The argument that lizards or birds will never have "knowledge" of mammary glands could also be said of a cat who will never know the joy of grasping with an opposable thumb.

 

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
14 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.