Why are the offspring of four-legged mammals so mobile at birth compared to our own?

Question

I understand why they grow at different rates, but to have such sensory control at birth (or so near to it) astounds me.

It would be greatly appreciated if anyone with accurate information on this matter could voice it.

Answer 1

Evolution.  They have to be to survive.

Answer 2

they evolved that way so that if a predater came they could keep up with mom.

Answer 3

It is the price we paid for locomotion on two legs.  If you can imagine  when we first began  moving around on two legs we were just as agile as a new puppy.  But to get up on two legs we required more skill so the parents had to care for us longer until we could get around without them.  Now with parent care for longer time other aspects of our development could progress more slowly without loss of life so they also progressed more slowly.  This is likely how we compounded our intelligence.  Parents spending more time with their young could teach them more.  Then when language developed our intelligence skyrocketed.  This is all conjecture.  None of it was written down and no physical evidence is survivable so we must imagine how it came about.

I don't think hunting hurts the evolution of healthy animals since if you observe man, he wants the biggest animal but he is not that great a hunter so he still selects the weaker or less intelligent animals.  In fact he may make many of our prey species evolve to more intelligence since they are the ones that get away from us.  Now when you get to the point of decimating a population, evolution stops.  Having the better animals survive is more luck than anything else

You need to wait 4 hours to select a best answer or you can let it go to voters.

Answer 4

OK, first of all, your question is not quit accurate.  Not all four-legged Mammals are mobile at birth.  Example:  Tigers, Lions, Kangaroos, Rodents, Monotremes, and Primates other than us.

I believe you're referring to "hoofed" Mammals, like Zebras, Bison, Antelope, Elk, Wildebeest, etc.  These animals are "prey animals" and therefore, if the newborns do not get up and get active within a very short time, they will get eaten.  Mammals like that are fed upon by Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pumas, Bears, etc.  

Survival of the fittest means exactly that, and that's how predators keep the populations of other animals under control and "healthy", because they only kill and feed on those animals that are sick, injured, or young and weak.  Human trophy hunters mess this up and ruin the balance of nature because they only go after the biggest and strongest and thereby destroy the gene pool which results in inferior genes being passed down from generation to generation.  Nature WILL take care of itself if man will just leave it alone.