Un cas d’accouchement en occipito-pubien chez Pan troglodytes
The birthing process in modern humans is supposed to be different from non-human primate birth. In humans the foetal head exits the birth canal mostly in occiput anterior position and the pregnant woman frequently seeks assistance. These characteristics have been interpreted from an evolutionary per...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Société Francophone de Primatologie
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Revue de Primatologie |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/primatologie/7036 |
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| Summary: | The birthing process in modern humans is supposed to be different from non-human primate birth. In humans the foetal head exits the birth canal mostly in occiput anterior position and the pregnant woman frequently seeks assistance. These characteristics have been interpreted from an evolutionary perspective and they are supposed to be due to the physical constraints related to the increase in brain size and bipedal locomotion. In this study, we analyse a close-up video recording of the delivery of a female Pan troglodytes from the Réserve africaine de Sigean (France). Our aim is to check whether the human birth characteristics are absent in this case. We observe a human-like occiput anterior position at the expulsion with a manual deflexion of the foetal head performed by the mother herself. There are neither restitution movements nor perineal tears. Our observation, together with the three others cases of occiput anterior positions described in the literature, leads us to question the evolutionary hypotheses related to human birth. However, more videos of Pan troglodytes birth are needed to investigate the diversity of the foetal head position during expulsion. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-3757 |