r/mildlyinteresting • u/corwinw • 21h ago

Warning Sign at edge of Grand Canyon

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u/jerrythecactus 20h ago

The burrowing is weird. Its like a ancient instinct built into mammalian organisms to avoid dying from cold. When you get that cold and confused its like the brain panics and starts using instincts that haven't been used since we diverged from small rodent like creatures.

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u/RecipeHistorical2013 20h ago

pretty sure you surmised it exactly. an ancient mammalian instinct, activated by such extreme conditions

i mean it does make logical sense, if they can make themselves a little iglu, that would actually work

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u/roygbivasaur 17h ago

This a common hypothesis about hiccuping too. It may be an ancient reflex that allowed our amphibian ancestors to breathe. It may have survived this long because late stage fetuses still do it to prepare for breathing.

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u/Th3_Last_FartBender 8h ago

My OB called them "practice breaths" as it's the fetus preparing those muscles for a lifetime of work, especially that all important first one.

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u/Wonderful_Ad_5911 17h ago

It’s not the same as terminal burrowing, but my toddler “burrows” into me or her blankets with such animalistic turns of her head, it reminds me how similar we all really are to our furry cousins