Quote from: soldierjane on December 27, 2008, 02:46:40 PM...I wonder what mother had the heart to do that to her baby...
Nature/evolution provides for that. It's called postpartum depression. If the kid's a runt and ain't worth 2+ years of the mother's resources because it won't be viable, chuck it. Without the lactation/nursing to suppress fertility, the mother becomes ready for another go quickly, and better luck next time. The postpartum depression (typically lasting two weeks) provides the objectivity unclouded by maternal attachments.
Do women who off their sickly infants do so without emotional regret, NO! But they are able to maximise their contribution of viable offspring to the next reproductive go-round.
None of the above assumes medical science. That's happened only in the last evolutionary blink. We're still stressing over stuff that made sense to stress over in way-back time, but not in modern
today -- and conversely, we haven't yet learned to stress over the stuff that can get us in modern life.
Karen