Vets, Biologists, Zoologists, Physicians, Etc. - Why are furry mammals born with their eyes closed?

Question

I've tried searching the net to find out why this is. Not having any luck...do you know why exactly this occurs in the animal kingdom? Why doesn't it occur in human infants?

Answer 1

Many mammals are altricial, that is, they're born with closed eyes and ears, and unable to move for themselves. Many others are precocial, that is, they are born with open eyes and ears, good motor coordination and are able to follow their mother a short time after being born.
These two evolutionary strategies are not correlated with the "furry" quality; indeed you can find examples of both in closely related species, such as rabbits (altricial) and hares (precocial); or rats (altricial) and guinea pigs (precocial). All of these are quite furry :-)
There is no clear phylogenetic correlation for these traits, which means that not all the species descended from one particular clade have the same strategy. It's very probable that they represent different evolutionary adaptive strategies: animals that give birth in open habitats and/or are exposed to predators often have precocial young (also dolphins and whales,for obvious reasons); whereas other species that use burrows or give birth in otherwise sheltered places have altricial young. The duration of pregnancy also varies; generally precocial young are born after relatively longer pregnancies, which means greater stress on the mother's body and higher vulnerability for her before delivery.
In the case of human infants, I guess (but it's just my guess) that since vision is our strongest sense and visual communication is so important, it starts to develop right at birth. However, we're altricial in other respects and human babies depend completely on their mothers.

Answer 2

Actually, some animals (like humans) are born with open eyes. Such as the hare is open-eyed while the rabbit is closed. It's also why some animals walk on their own almost immediately after being born while others take a much longer time.
It has to do with survival. If an animal is an herbivore, more likely to be hunted, or cannot protect itself through hiding then its young have to know how to run and see as soon as possible.

But the less danger there is to the creature, the less the ability is needed. Humans may be born with the ability to open their eyes, but the gestation period is so long that it'd be a bit pathetic if the eyes weren't developed yet. However (as is quite obvious) they are virtually helpless. But because a human is a, well, human there is no need to quickly learn to run and hide from any large species.

Answer 3

Mammals are warm-blooded, they have fur or hair, and most mammals give birth to live young (rather than laying eggs).
Baby beavers - Born with eyes open and a full coat of hair
baby dolphins - born with eyes open but the mother still helps get the baby to the air above for their first breath.
seals - also born with eyes open
elephants, bison, bighorn sheep, caribou,elk,horses, zebras, are also more mammals that are born with eyes open.
Just look at the source below and read about many more mammals that give birth to babies that are born with their eyes open and also ones that are born with them closed.
hope this helps.

Answer 4

Well first off it isn't true that furry animals are born with their eyes closed. Hares and elephant shrews are two examples that immediately spring to mind of animals that are very furry and born with fully functional eyes.

It's true that many mammals are born with their eyes sealed and that seems to be the ancestral trait. The general rule of thumb is that any animal that leaves its young in a den will produce young that are are born blind to prevent the dust and faeces in the den form causing eye infections and blindness. Animals that take their young with them and never construct dens can produce young that have sight from birth because they don't have to live in filth and dust.

Cats, rabbits and so forth construct dens for their young, and so the young are born blind to ptotect their eyes form the filth in the den before they are able to stand above it. Humans, hares, cattle and so forth take their young with them as soon as they are born and so the young need ot be able to see and have no need to be concerned above the filth in the den causing blindness.

Answer 5

All mammals tend to be born with eyes anatomically mature, but cows and goats (and relatives) are born quite ready to do all an adult does, like running minutes after birth.
Those animals that are not ready to be as independent as the ones said, tend to be born with eye function not as ready, like cats, dogs, and yes also humans.

Answer 6

hi

Answer 7

Not all animals eyes is closed at birth. But when it is closed at birth, it is to develop their hearing and smell senses

Answer 8

Their eyes are not fully developed.