Growth
Compared to the rest of the animal world, human growth is incredibly slow. Most mammal offspring can not only stand and run within minutes of birth, but have no trouble at all in locating the source of nutrition and comfort offered by their mother’s milk. A human offspring is generally about a year old efore it takes its first eetering steps, and in the beginning it has trouble finding its milk, even if a nipple is virtually dangled above its nose.
Growth is protracted and uncomfortable business for humans, and very slow - averaging about 3in per year, but there is a theory that there in lies our superiority, in that the leisurely pace of development leading up to our reproductive years, provides great opportunity for learning and developing in a protected and well-nurtured environment.
