has anyone encountered a male baby with out nipples. They have no use so they should evolve and go away dont you think
2007-07-13 08:48:56 · 8 answers · asked by Yorgi 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
You COMPLETELY fail to understand the basic proposed mechanism of evolution! Males nipples offer no impediment to survival, so there would be no advantage to a "mutant male" born without them (which has in fact happened many times, just as there have been males born with three or more nipples....look it up!)
The presence of (useless) nipples on male mammals is a fine example of evidence SUPPORTING evolutionary theory... unless you subscribe to the notion that we were deliberately "designed" by a complete idiot!
Most likely, male mammary glands were once routinely productive, but as social roles in mammals bifurcated into more distributed "hunter/protector" & "nurturer" roles (as a consequence of young mammals becoming more complex and vulnerable), they fell into disuse, and mutations that diminished their function were carried forward since they offered no disadvantage!
2007-07-13 09:05:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
There are many remnant structures in the human body, as well as other mammals. The few hair cells on the whale have no purpose but are there as a reminder of a time when there was such a need. The reason for such structures to remain is actually an advantage, if conditions change and we need the function of the specific structure, the blue print is there. How would man need nipples? Think space travel, think infections or other environmental factors that may change our roles, there are many possibilities that we can not see in the future. It would take millions of years to evolve nipples all over again which would not be sufficient to sustain human survival without such safety measures.
2007-07-13 16:36:24 · answer #2 · answered by silversurfer_444 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
>"They have no use so they should evolve and go away dont you think"
Not instantaneously (as in a male baby suddenly being born without them). Evolution works *slowly* so things that took a long time to appear, also take a long time to disappear.
But in this particular case, it's unlike they would disappear at all because they are an unavoidable part of embryological development. That's why all mammals still have gill folds as embryos.
The existence of male nipples ... or any useless structure ... is absolutely a piece of evidence in favor of evolution, and against intelligent design.
Evolution explains it as the expression of genes in an early stage of embryonic development before gender determination. Embryonic development is where genes left over from evolutionary history temporarily express themselves.
Intelligent design has no explanation for why a useless feature should ever have existed *at all*.
2007-07-13 16:33:14 · answer #3 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are there because we all start out in the womb as female. Then when the Y chromosome kicks in testosterone they do not develop working mammary glands and such.
As mentioned before, they don't cause an advantage or a disadvantage in males so they would not necessarily evolve out (which takes 10s of 1000s of years) and they are a marked advantage in female because we are mammals and nurse our young. So since we all start out female in the womb, they aren't going anywhere.
2007-07-13 16:13:38 · answer #4 · answered by Lady Geologist 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
yeah ur right dear that they have no work.. and u also right that they should go away..
but one thing to understand here is that the process of evolution does not take place in a week, month or year or even a generation.. it takes gradually so it would still take another tens of thousad of year for the nipple to vanish...
it continously shrinking....
the nipples in male babies are still evolving. evolution has not stopped
2007-07-13 15:55:45 · answer #5 · answered by frazshamim 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Good question, but as the previous answerer pointed out, tens of thousands of years are necessary so that they don't have to prove evolution.
2007-07-13 16:00:15 · answer #6 · answered by Zuker 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Do test tube babies have a belly button? Why? Just curious.
2007-07-13 16:02:12 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
well...
could that happen with out changing the female?
2007-07-13 16:17:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋