How do baby fish.... fish?

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awolf3303

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How do baby fish know how to do everything as soon as they are born? Like how do they know how to run away from a hand, know what food is and how to eat it, and know how to use their flippers? How can they do this with a brain the size of a grain of salt, while baby humans don't know how to do anything with a brain 20 times the size?
 
Interesting question, never thought of that.

I would assume they learn quickly, from watching other fish or their parents.

If they see a hand, they are probably just scared of it. They don’t need to “learn” how to be scared, it’s sort of “programmed” into them.

As far as eating/swimming goes, that’s all natural. It’s just like asking, “how to fawns know how to walk when they are born?”

Good question though. Interested to see what other members opinions/experiences are. :)
 
It's a wierd one and alot of thing are in the animal world (platypus what's going on there universe) so I would put it simply evolution
 
Billions of years of evolution, creating instincts :)

Humans are born relatively un-developed, compared to most every other creature of the planet. A result of our large brains- we need to be born before being very developed, because we've already reached the limit for how large the babies head can get, before the adult female would be unable to give birth. As a result, newborns are incredibly helpless, needing full time care, and a long time spent as infants and children, being raised by a caregiver who has to invest an incredible amount of time and energy into raising relatively few children in their lifetime, as compared to a species that raises hundreds of young, or lays thousands of eggs that require no parental care.

Humans have a few reflexes they're born with. Suckling being one, a grasping reflex being another, although there are more. But many other things need to be taught by caregivers, since we're so helpless as infants and being closely raised by caregivers, and have complex social groups that we need to be taught how to navigate.

Many prey species like horses, deer, wild buffalo etc, have a strong instinctive drive to get on their feet as soon after they're born as possible, because they're so vulnerable to being hunted, and need to be on their feet to be hidden among the herd, and able to run with the herd - as soon as possible. Any that didn't, would not have survived to pass on their genes, and running with the herd being such an important part of survival for these species, natural selection over time has led to an instinct in young of those species to stand as soon as they can.

Thousands of species have an instinctive fear of a shadow passing overhead - since that shadow is very likely to be a predator. Even humans are born with a startle reflex :)

It's a good question, but the answer isn't that simple as I've tried to briefly explain above, but it's a scientists kind of question, which is great! You'd need to read a lot about evolution and instinctual behaviours to really get to grips with it, and I highly recommend you do! It's fascinating stuff :)

Edit to fix typos
 
Last edited:
Billions of years of evolution, creating instincts :)

Humans are born relatively un-developed, compared to most every other creature of the planet. A result of our large brains- we need to be born before being very developed, because we've already reached the limit for how large the babies head can get, before the adult female would be unable to give birth. As a result, newborns are incredibly helpless, needing full time care, and a long time spent as infants and children, being raised by a caregiver who has to invest an incredible amount of time and energy into raising just relatively few children in their lifetime, as compared to a species that raises hundreds of young, or lays thousands of eggs that require no parental care.

Humans have a few reflexes they're born with. Suckling being one, a grasping reflex being another, although there are more. But many other things need to be taught by caregivers, since we're so helpless as infants and being closely raised by caregivers, and have complex social groups that we need to be taught how to navigate.

Many prey species like horses, deer, wild buffalo etc, have a strong instinctive desire drive to get on their feet as soon after they're born as possible, because they're so vulnerable to being hunted, and need to be on their feet to be hidden among the herd, and able to run with the herd - as soon as possible. Any that didn't, would not have survived to pass on their genes, and running with the herd being such an important part of survival for these species, natural selection over time has led to an instinct in young of those species to stand as soon as they can.

Thousands of species have an instinctive fear of a shadow passing overhead - since that shadow is very likely to be a predator. Even humans are born with a startle reflex :)

It's good question, but the answer isn't that simple as I've tried to briefly explain above, but it's a scientists kind of question, which is great! You'd need to read a lot about evolution and instinctual behaviours to really get to grips with it, and I highly recommend you do! It's fascinating stuff :)
100% science rules
 
All baby creatures on this earth act like they do, because God created them that way. :)
 
All baby creatures on this earth act like they do, because God created them that way. :)
I dont really believe in god but I must admit sometimes feels like there is some sort of divine force watching over us and messing with us so maybe there is some truth to what you say
 
All baby creatures on this earth act like they do, because God created them that way. :)

That's a matter of personal religious beliefs, but plenty of scientists accept evolution while also believing in a god of some form. They just tend to believe that their god created the mechanisms that drive evolution.
 
A friend of mine was educated in a Roman Catholic convent school and the nun's taught evolution rather than creationism; evolution guided by God.
That's great! Was that relatively recently?

The Creation Museum is in Kentucky... doing a great deal of harm in their nonsense teachings. But fortunately, relatively few religious offshoots are so anti-evolution.
 
It was in the late 1960's and early 1970s. We started university together in 1971 so that's when she left the school.
 
A friend of mine was educated in a Roman Catholic convent school and the nun's taught evolution rather than creationism; evolution guided by God.
Wow! I was raised 12 years in Catholic school but no evolution. I was there through 1974. God created Adam and Eve. However, God’s time is not our time. 7 days could have been 700 years in our time.
 
That's a matter of personal religious beliefs, but plenty of scientists accept evolution while also believing in a god of some form. They just tend to believe that their god created the mechanisms that drive evolution.
I have a lot to say on this matter, but we are technically not allowed to bring up religion. It’s just my personal opinion, lots may agree or disagree... :)
 

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