How did mankind ever work out 'where babies come from'???

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

Seriously - 9 months from sex to bubs - how did anyone ever work out the cause and effect??

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Possibly from observing seasonal mating habits in other animals?

[BanalChelping]

Ooo good question. Maybe clever cavemen did special stick-men cave drawings, sort of like Neanderthal biology textbooks.

[Salmotrutta]

Observation - e.g. "Unmated" virgins not producing babies and drwaing conclusions from that? Granted they must have wondered why babies didn't result from every mating but they presumably noted the connection between sex and pregnancy.
I'm basing this on the fact that they must have been extremely observant of nature the world around them.
It always amazes me that the engineering, mathematical and astronomical skills of the ancients were so highly developed - and I reckon they had to be incredibly in tune with natures rythms etc. to survive.

[Salmotrutta]

drawing even!

[Nagoo]

they would have kept animals.

[VJayJay]

But how did the animals know?????

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Animals don't need to know; they have a mating season (mostly) and just get on with instinctive behaviour. Humans also get on with instinctive behaviour, it's just that we do know there's a connectoin between shagging and babies.

[southeastastra]

by watching rabbits probably

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

oh yes good points made. I wonder if we are less in tune with the world around us these days...

[blinder]

I'm sorry but that has got to be the stupidest question I have ever seen bar none.

[blinder]

Penis goes in. Periods stop. Belly gets bigger. Baby comes out.

What about that process seems bafflingly obscure to you OP?

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

There may be weeks between the penis going in and periods stopping; similarly, if a couple were having sex regularly, why does the penis going in not always result in periods stopping, swollen belly etc? It's not really all that obvious.

[JaneS]

It's not a stupid question (bit rude to say so too). The Tudors thought that when women were bleeding and just afterwards, they were at their most fertile - completely the wrong way round! It obviously took people a fair while to understand the details.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Mind you, I also wonder about things like, who was the first person who looked at a piece of coal and thought, "Yeah, that looks like it'll burn"? I'm assuming observations were made of natural wildfire in areas where coal seams were close to the surface... And then there's stuff like metalworking; who first thought of melting rocks? Again, I guess some copper ore got added accidentally to a big fire, and the metal cooled and solidified, but we'll never know for sure.

[meditrina]

The Tudors hadn't been reading the Old Testament, then.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

LittleRedDragon, was that maybe because bitches (as in, canine females) bleed when in season?

[Jacksmania]

I'd also like to know who first thought "I'm going to eat the next thing that comes out of a chicken's arse".

Seriously. Eggs don't really look edible in their shells, do they?


Not a stupid question at all re: intercourse resulting in babies a while later.

[Salmotrutta]

It's a bit like "Who first milked a cow?" isn't it?

Or do profoundly deaf people who have been deaf from birth think in images? Conversely do blind people think in words if they have always been blind? That's always intrigued me.

[hogsback]

Jacks - Similarly I'd like to know more about the first person who said 'Hey, you know that milk we forgot about? That's gone all lumpy and blue and smells like a dead badger's arse? I'm going to eat it.'

[hogsback]

Although I think with eggs and milk it's pretty obvious - babies and baby animals drink milk and lots of animals will steal and eat eggs if given half a chance.

[LynetteScavo]

It's not a stupid question.

You get jiggy with bloke....you get jiggy with another bloke...you get fat and have baby.

When did folk figure out it was 9 months gestation? I mean, it would only work if you had sex, and then no sex for 9 months.

But I guess people didn't have a lot to do in the olden days apart from hunt and cook and keep safe and warm, and look after the DC. And shag.

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

Re figuring out gestation, the lack of periods during pregnancy would have been an indicator.

[Jacksmania]

I think rather than the lack of periods, it would have been the mahoosive bump and the baby coming out that gave it away :o

[Jacksmania]

I really don't get who wants to eat cheese that smells like a dead badger's arse. Soft cheeses are . Nice firm nutty cheeses like Jarlsberg, now that's yummy.

[Jacksmania]

AND AND AND I'd like to know how hogsback knows what a dead badger's arse smells like.