• workerONE@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    This one is particularly interesting: The palmar grasp reflex is thought to be a vestigial behavior in human infants. When placing a finger or object to the palm of an infant, it will securely grasp it. This grasp is found to be rather strong.[74] Some infants—37% according to a 1932 study—are able to support their own weight from a rod,[75] although there is no way they can cling to their mother. The grasp is also evident in the feet. When a baby is sitting down, its prehensile feet assume a curled-in posture, similar to that observed in an adult chimp.[76][77] An ancestral primate would have had sufficient body hair to which an infant could cling, unlike modern humans, thus allowing its mother to escape from danger, such as climbing up a tree in the presence of a predator without having to occupy her hands holding her baby.