It really seems odd, but I guess it makes sense!

Often, I am blown away with what various creatures in the world do. Personally, none of it looks like the end result of millions of years worth of random mutations to me, despite the claims of some.

Dolphins are some of those marvelous creatures that humans have been able to interact with in so many incredible ways. They are very intelligent and therefore can be trained to successfully accomplish and do many things. Even in the wild, these playful, sleek, powerful air-breathers seem to enjoy interacting not only with other dolphins but with all sorts of other animals, and humans too.

Though I have always been interested in these incredible marine creatures, and though I have learned much about them over the years, it seems that somehow I missed an interesting fact about their birthing process.

Dolphins give birth backwards.

For many other animals, being born headfirst is the best way for the baby to be born, but not for dolphins! For humans, a breach birth, where the feet start coming out first, is not the best position for the baby to be in. We were designed to be born headfirst. Not only is it easy for the delivery process, but the baby can breathe right away then too, so the chance of survival can be higher as well!

However, though we classify dolphins as mammals, being born headfirst is not the best position for their deliveries. From the shape of dolphins we could assume that this would work well and even be preferable, but dolphins breathe air and live in water. If the baby dolphin was born head-first, it would have to hold its breath until it was completely delivered before being able to make it to the surface to get its first breath. This could be life threatening.

I was exposed to this information while watching a movie with my children. Upon further research it seems that the fins of dolphins stay soft and folded until after they are born. I can't imagine what birthing a firm dorsal fin backwards (or forwards) would feel like for a mama dolphin. When the baby dolphin is born, the mama will help it to the surface for that first breath too!

photo source

Here is a great photo from a dolphin birth, where you can see the baby exit the mother in reverse. The photo source link above has some more great info about the birth of dolphins, but it is worth mentioning that a lot of what we know about dolphin births comes from captive dolphins, and not wild ones. Obviously, wild dolphins giving birth would be a lot harder to observe and research.

Another thing I learned today about dolphins is that the mama will nurse her baby for about two years, while they swim. Interesting to think about, as I never really considered that much. Did any you know any of these things before, because I sure didn't?

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The evolutionary model claims that dolphins came from land mammals, which supposedly can be traced back to sea creatures. This means that these creatures would have had to leave the sea to eventually grow fur, breathe through nostrils connected to the esophagus, and give birth head-first only to later return to the sea, lose all fur, breathe through a blow-hole not connected to the throat, and give birth tail-first. There sure are some reasons for people to consider being skeptical about the evolutionary story.

Even having the fins remain folded and soft until after birth would sure be a huge stroke of "luck", if you believe in that sort of thing.