They don't serve any practical purpose I know of, unless you count collecting lint. Furthermore, wouldn't they be detrimental in our evolution? What if you like, stabbed it with a stick, or something?
Additional question: Is a belly button even connected to anything inside of the body?
-------------------- It can't rain all the time. Posts: 1102 | From: Iowa | Registered: Oct 2004
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Umm... You're kidding? (Or maybe you just had a momentary lapse of reason. I can understand that. It happens.) You know about the umbilical cord, right? That's what it's for.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by RelicMan: Well yeah...But why doesn't it just heal over instead of making a vulnerable "button" that turns into a vulnerable "hole"?
Hmm. I don't know. An open wound in a newborn might be more of a danger, especially before babies were born in hospitals.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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You have to have someplace to put a navel ring.
Pogue
-------------------- Let's drink to the causes in your life: Your family, your friends, the union, your wife. Posts: 11325 | From: Kentucky | Registered: Nov 2000
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Navels are there to let pregnant women know when the baby is "done." When the innie turns into an outie, (kind of like the pop-up turkey timers) it's about time to head to the hospital.
-------------------- You fail to consider, for such is the tyranny of fashion, that the swan is not a slim animal... -Jincy Kornhauser, Melinda Falling Posts: 1762 | From: Charleston, West Virginia | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: Umm... You're kidding? (Or maybe you just had a momentary lapse of reason. I can understand that. It happens.) You know about the umbilical cord, right? That's what it's for.
In that case, why don't non-mammals have belly buttons? In their eggs, isn't the yolk connected to the developing embryo through a structure similar to the umbilical cord?
-------------------- Fools! You've over-estimated me! Posts: 3745 | From: New York City | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by nerdymcnerd: Not true! Not true! It better not be true - cause mine hasn't popped and probably won't - I must have a deep belly button.
Don't worry, nerdy! Mine never popped with any of my pregnancies. Neither did my SIL's. In fact, she managed to keep wearing her belly-button ring all the way through!
-------------------- Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage. Lao Tzu Posts: 1544 | From: Northern California | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Bettie Page Turner: Navels are there to let pregnant women know when the baby is "done." When the innie turns into an outie, (kind of like the pop-up turkey timers) it's about time to head to the hospital.
Interesting theory -- explains why mine never popped (the Kitten was 3 weeks early).
Four Kitties
-------------------- If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales? Posts: 13275 | From: Kindergarten World, Massachusetts | Registered: Jul 2003
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My cousin was born about 2 weeks after she was expected. By then my poor aunt had no belly button left at all, it had stretched so far!
-------------------- Last year's goat was burned down by vandals dressed up as Santa Claus and the Gingerbread Man. They were never caught. My blog. The Adventures of the Fish O'Thwacking. Countdown: 177 days (or less!) Posts: 4926 | From: NW Ohio | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Bettie Page Turner: Navels are there to let pregnant women know when the baby is "done." When the innie turns into an outie, (kind of like the pop-up turkey timers) it's about time to head to the hospital.
So what purpose do they serve on men?
-------------------- "Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: Umm... You're kidding? (Or maybe you just had a momentary lapse of reason. I can understand that. It happens.) You know about the umbilical cord, right? That's what it's for.
In that case, why don't non-mammals have belly buttons? In their eggs, isn't the yolk connected to the developing embryo through a structure similar to the umbilical cord?
quote:All placental mammals have navels, which are simply scars left at the site where the umbilical cord was attached to the body. While the point is subject to much debate, there is evidence that several other amniotes hatch from their eggs still attached to their egg blood vessels through an allantoic stalk homologous to the umbilical cord. Hence, birds and reptiles may be considered to have "navels" (or at least something homologous to a navel) as well.
quote:Monotremes (platypuses and echidnas) lay eggs and nutrients are provided to the embryo from the yolk sac (the direct evolutionary basis of the placenta).
Most marsupials (with the exception of bandicoots) have very simple placentas (choriovitelline placentas) that are more or less yolk sacs without eggs.
Bandicoots, (true) placental mammals, and some snakes have more complex placentas (chorioallantoic placentas).
buf 'never pass up the change to introduce bandicoots into a conversation' ungla
-------------------- "Pardon him. Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."
George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra Posts: 4847 | From: Washington, DC | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by RelicMan: Why in the hell do we have belly buttons?
They don't serve any practical purpose I know of, unless you count collecting lint.
But that's the beauty of them -- they don't do anything!
-------------------- "Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Bettie Page Turner: Navels are there to let pregnant women know when the baby is "done." When the innie turns into an outie, (kind of like the pop-up turkey timers) it's about time to head to the hospital.
If I laid on my back in my third trimester I could push mine in and out and will. It was really freaky.
Here's an interesting question I first asked when I was 4, and no one has been able to answer:
Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?
-------------------- The technical term is narcissism. You can't believe everything is your fault unless you also believe you're all powerful.--House Posts: 2684 | From: Budapest | Registered: Sep 2005
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While bufungla's cites say that all mammals have navals, it's pretty obvious that they don't all look like ours. I can clearly see the mark left on my dog's stomach from his umbilical cord, but it's not something we humans would necessarily recognize as a "belly button". So what gives ours its unique look? (And do other primates have similar ones? I don't think so, but I can't find a photo of an ape or monkey navel.)
Personally, my belly button is one of the few parts of my body that I don't like, because it's kinda freaky looking. I'm a "normal" innie but I've just always thought my belly button was weird in general.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: Umm... You're kidding? (Or maybe you just had a momentary lapse of reason. I can understand that. It happens.) You know about the umbilical cord, right? That's what it's for.
In that case, why don't non-mammals have belly buttons? In their eggs, isn't the yolk connected to the developing embryo through a structure similar to the umbilical cord?
They just happen to be that much more highly evolved than humans. They don't make nuclear weapons. And they have very discreet belly buttons. Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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I think ours look like they do because they get "tied" off. But why don't they just stitch them so they lay flat? Hmmm. Never even thought of that before, and now I will think of nothing else all day.
-------------------- "The little local company I buy from has CHEAP shipping and I have met their goats." (snapdragonfly)
"And that's one lost erection I'll never get back! You hear me Dan! I'm owed an erection!" (I'mNotDedalus) Posts: 2658 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Little Pink Pill: Here's an interesting question I first asked when I was 4, and no one has been able to answer:
Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? [/QB]
Believe it or not, that was the subject of a lot of raging Catholic Church debate back when the Catholic Church ran Europe. The general consensus of the time from what I know is that they didn't, because they were created, not born.
On a similar note, someone on the site www.nitpickers.com nitpicked the motion picture "The Bible" because (gasp! shock!) they used an actor with a navel for the role of Adam.
Posts: 213 | From: Point of Rocks, MD | Registered: Aug 2005
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So...if we didn't tie off the umbilical cord after birth (no other mammals do), would it naturally fall off on its own? And if so, would it leave a round "belly button" scar, or just the faint, flat line that most other mammals have?
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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If you don't tie off the umbilical cord, it dries up and then falls off. In the meantime, it forms an infection risk, since it is essentially necrotic tissue. But it still leaves a scar. Talk to anyone who works with livestock.
I believe that the divine purpose of navels and male nipples, like the appendix, is to prove the silliness of intelligent design theory...
Posts: 330 | From: New Haven, VT | Registered: Sep 2005
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We don't tie off the umbilical cord. It is cut to a more reasonable length, then a clamp is placed on the end. The cord is coated with antibactirial solution that also aids in drying up the cord and a plastic clamp is added to the end. The day after the baby is born the cord is significantly smaller and the clamp is taken off. What's left is like a big scab, the end looks like it's plastic but that's just because it got formed by the clamp. Then it just needs to be kept dry and clean so the rest of the stump can fall off naturally. Parent nor doctor can control the belly button becomming an innie or outie.
I think it would still fall off on it's own and look roughly the same were we not to cut/treat it. Don't many mammals chew off the cords? If they do they'd get pretty close to the skin and that could explain why it is a flat scar.
-------------------- This used to be the life, but I don't need another one. MyBandwagon Posts: 3254 | From: small town Texas | Registered: Jan 2004
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Thanks, Starla, that's the info I was looking for.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by WildaBeast burger with fries:
quote:Originally posted by Bettie Page Turner: Navels are there to let pregnant women know when the baby is "done." When the innie turns into an outie, (kind of like the pop-up turkey timers) it's about time to head to the hospital.
So what purpose do they serve on men?
The same purpose breasts serve on men. Decoration.
-------------------- Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Posts: 536 | From: Gonzales, Louisiana | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Cervus: Thanks, Starla, that's the info I was looking for.
I should have added that I'm not a medical professional. This is just my observation of what happened after my girls and my friend's son were born. For some reason the whole process fascinates me, so I watched carefully each time.
-Star"might be a freak"la
-------------------- This used to be the life, but I don't need another one. MyBandwagon Posts: 3254 | From: small town Texas | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Starla: Don't many mammals chew off the cords? If they do they'd get pretty close to the skin and that could explain why it is a flat scar.
I don't know about that exactally. I have a 2-day-old batch of kittens in my house right now (anyone want a new cat in 6-8 weeks?) and their momma chewed off the cords but there's about an inch or so still hanging on to each kitten.
-------------------- Conforming meant that everyone liked you except yourself Rebecca Posts: 682 | From: Jacksonville, FL | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Starla: Don't many mammals chew off the cords? If they do they'd get pretty close to the skin and that could explain why it is a flat scar.
I don't know about that exactally. I have a 2-day-old batch of kittens in my house right now (anyone want a new cat in 6-8 weeks?) and their momma chewed off the cords but there's about an inch or so still hanging on to each kitten.
-------------------- Conforming meant that everyone liked you except yourself Rebecca Posts: 682 | From: Jacksonville, FL | Registered: Aug 2005
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Bill Cosby said he used to play with his as a child (if you've ever heard his stage act- "ohh, navel, navel, oh, navel"). His mother told him to stop it or he'd pop it and deflate. He used to carry bandaids around, "for emergencies".
As for the pregnant woman thing- mine never popped out either. And my second child was 11 pounds and nearly two feet tall. All full-term.
-------------------- "Is it ME? Am I a MAGNET for these idiots?"~Pearl Forrester MST3K Die-Hard Engineers, Big Red One my Dad's website "Must be a 'snopes' thing..." ~my entire family when I try to explain something. Posts: 4524 | From: South of Madison, Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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Believe it or not, that was the subject of a lot of raging Catholic Church debate back when the Catholic Church ran Europe. The general consensus of the time from what I know is that they didn't, because they were created, not born.
On a similar note, someone on the site www.nitpickers.com nitpicked the motion picture "The Bible" because (gasp! shock!) they used an actor with a navel for the role of Adam. [/QUOTE]
WOW. Somebody's got too much time on their hands.
-------------------- The technical term is narcissism. You can't believe everything is your fault unless you also believe you're all powerful.--House Posts: 2684 | From: Budapest | Registered: Sep 2005
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The British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton has practically no navel. I was watching her for ages wondering why she looked "wrong" until I realised. I'm so jealous of her: I hate navels with a passion and even just reading this topic had made me feel slickly sick
-------------------- Silence should never under any circumstances be construed as agreement. A lot of the time, it's simply a reflection that someone just said something so stupid that no response could possibly do it justice. - Ramblin' Dave Posts: 8528 | From: Nottingham, England | Registered: Feb 2000
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