ListNook

RandomRamblings99 Mar 27, 2026 +168

Babies instinctively hold their breath in water and have some swimming abilities by default (which is why infancy is a great time to go to professional swimming lessons. It becomes as natural as walking and gives your kids a great advantage should they ever find themselves in water)

168

Zovort Mar 27, 2026 +61

Babies also have the instinct to walk, but since their legs don't work they kind of give up on that for a year.

61

Knowledge_Regret Mar 28, 2026 +30

Bbno kneecaps

30

RandomRamblings99 Mar 28, 2026 +2

It's hilarious that basically all babies are undercooked. The basics are hardwired in there but nothings formed yet to use it

2

plural_of_nemesis Mar 27, 2026 +137

We instinctively have the ability to throw an object. We subconsciously know how to calculate its weight and aerodynamic properties well enough to hit a target with good speed and accuracy from a fairly young age.

137

Zovort Mar 27, 2026 +36

Yeah this is a good one. We have to learn muscle control but we can estimate trajectories pretty well.

36

Wezzleey Mar 27, 2026 +60

The ability to pick up any object and throw it ACCURATELY with lethal force is a uniquely human trait. Outside of our big ass brains, the ability to throw is our super power in the animal kindom.

60

duke78 Mar 27, 2026 +20

Those fish that shoot insect out of the air by squirting water out of their mouths come pretty close.

20

No_Bandicoot2306 Mar 28, 2026 +26

Nah, I've watched those guys, they can't throw for shit.

26

InTheFDN Mar 28, 2026 +3

They never win at darts.

3

Ihatecheeseballs Mar 28, 2026 +10

Screw your evolutionary arms race I just learnt how to throw a rock

10

Maezel Mar 27, 2026 +3

And sweating.

3

Bollywood_Fan Mar 28, 2026 +1

Interesting! I've never played a sport that involved pitching a ball, or worked on throwing anything, but I can pick something up and throw it with amazing aim. I don't do this very often, and if my brain does get involved I'm terrible at pitching. Might be some sort of instinctual skill. I can't swim, or juggle or learn languages well which would be so much more useful.

1

finzaz Mar 28, 2026 +5

How long until I develop this skill? When you say 'fairly young' does mid-40s count?

5

WTFwhatthehell Mar 27, 2026 +160

I remember a show on TV years ago. One of those wilderness survival ones. One of the contestants wasn't doing too well, had no real idea how to catch and prepare an animal. eventually managed to catch a rabbit... and immediately ate its liver. Raw. They interviewed him afterwards and he talked about how disgusting it was in retrospect and he had no idea why but it had seemed really important to do so. Apparently he'd become quite anemic at that point. So it seems likely we have some instincts around dietary deficiencies.

160

Lord-of_the-files Mar 27, 2026 +57

That's interesting. I wonder if something similar is happening when pregnant women get cravings for unusual foods.

57

MTLDAD Mar 27, 2026 +44

I’ve thought this was likely for a long time, and more than that, it’s likely correlated with all cravings. Pregnancy cravings are just more urgent and specific because, you know, building a new human.

44

Muted_Winter8929 Mar 27, 2026 +29

I'm pretty certain that all cravings are a result of your body telling you you need more of something. Sweet cravings are the result of your caveman brain still thinking that more sugar=more good but if you listen to your body it will tell you if you need more lentils or fruits

29

WTFwhatthehell Mar 27, 2026 +24

Probably not *all* cravings. We're wired to enjoy salt/fat/sugar to an excessive degree. I've also heard there's hypotheses that the microorganisms in our gut may try to hack our system to encourage us to eat more stuff they like. So ,say, if you get a large population of carb-loving bacteria they may try to mess with your system to get you to eat eve more carbs.

24

hgrunt Mar 27, 2026 +8

In a documentary series about the last remaining hunter-gatherer peoples around the world, I noticed that finding honey is a ***huge*** deal and cause for celebration. I realized it's because they live in an environment where sugar is scarce and it's not like they can just go grab some oreos from the oreo bush The gut bacteria hypothesis is interesting and may have some merit. I remember reading about a guy who had IBS that was so bad, he DIY'd a >!fecal!< transplant out of desperation. Afterwards the IBS was cured, and the side effect was that he also got the donor's sweet tooth

8

scotty_doesnt_know Mar 27, 2026 +1

DIY’d a… fecal transplant?

1

MTLDAD Mar 28, 2026 +3

Two girls, one fecal transplant?

3

AwayComparison Mar 28, 2026 +1

I don’t know I’m pregnant and only craving pastries and bread when normally I eat a very well balanced diet. I’m absolutely grossed out by vegetables that can’t be healthy in any way

1

hgrunt Mar 27, 2026 +13

I believe that is the case. Being pregnant demands a lot of nutrients and energy, so the body might crave multiple things at once, when normally it wouldn't For example, something like *Raspberry Gelato topped with Dill Pickle Slices* might sound odd on the surface...but a pregnant person's body might crave it because pickles = electrolytes, gelato = sugar, fat, protein, calorie dense

13

Party_Row8480 Mar 27, 2026 +8

Mine were envelope adhesive, red meat, and cola. I hate cola and don't eat much meat, but that baby grew into a carnivorous cola lover.

8

spaetzlechick Mar 27, 2026 +4

Pica or geophagia are conditions where pregnant women eat non food items. There’s a possibility it’s due to needing iron and minerals. My father stopped my mother planting flowers while 6 months pregnant with me. She was eating dirt between flowers without any conscious knowledge of it.

4

Gusenica_koja_pushi Mar 28, 2026 +2

I didn’t have the exact “craving” feeling of “I want to eat this now,” but when I was pregnant, for about three months, I ate spinach every single day. I can’t imagine eating anything that often when I’m not pregnant. I also ate a lot of kiwi. I was basically aiming to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and since it was winter, not many fresh options were available. I ended up buying several kilograms of kiwi at a time just to have them available whenever I wanted. It’s a wonder I didn’t start shitting kiwi jam in the end, lol

2

hgrunt Mar 27, 2026 +14

I think we do have nutritional instincts that surface as cravings, but are otherwise unconscious When I used to have cable tv, I watched some episodes of My Strange Addiction. Many episodes feature women with pica, and they'd eat things like couch cushion foam rolled in skin cream and dirt, sticks of chalk, etc. I suspect it's because women are more likely than men to have iron deficiency and their instincts are telling them "EAT EVERYTHING UNTIL YOU FIND IRON"

14

WTFwhatthehell Mar 27, 2026 +18

We also have some instincts about water. I think it was one of the wolverine films where they had Jackman very dehydrated in order to look extra-ripped. Someone had a cup of water on set and he could *smell* it. We mostly ignore our remarkable ability to smell faint traces of water unless very dehydrated.

18

Jubjub0527 Mar 27, 2026 +21

Fun fact. You cam starve to death eating rabbit if you dont eat the brain and eyes and all of the stuff we typically dont. They're too lean.

21

hgrunt Mar 27, 2026 +6

I learned about that from Survivorman! though i don't think he mentions brains and eyes

6

Jubjub0527 Mar 27, 2026 +4

Me too! And yes, those are the specific parts he mentioned!

4

TheRiteGuy Mar 28, 2026 +2

OMG, another Les Stroud fan in the wild! There are dozens of us! Dozens! But seriously, my real life friends who talk about survival stuff don't know Survivorman and I'm always baffled.

2

hgrunt Mar 28, 2026 +2

So many dozens of us! I really enjoyed Survivorman because the stuff he does is very pragmatic, and I really respected that he did all the episodes with no film crew. His documentary series about the remaining hunter-gatherer societies is amazing too

2

chloraphil Mar 28, 2026 +4

Years ago I read, on Listnook I think, of some mariners that survived for weeks by catching and eating fish raw. At first they just ate the muscle, but by the end they were eating nearly everything.

4

other_usernames_gone Mar 28, 2026 +1

You can eat any meat raw as long as its fresh. You might get a parasite, but most parasites pass through you pretty quick and modern medicine can deal with parasites fairly easily once you're rescued.

1

agirlcalledmally Mar 27, 2026 +40

Except pigeons haha. Their nests are basically me trying to adult

40

WTFwhatthehell Mar 27, 2026 +17

/r/stupiddovenests/

17

agirlcalledmally Mar 27, 2026 +3

Lolll the one on the escalator! They’re just like “meh f*** it, here will do!”.

3

snufkin79 Mar 28, 2026 +1

Which one?? I love this sub, but I can't find the eacalator one 🥲

1

Mx_Loptr Mar 28, 2026 +4

https://www.listnook.com/r/stupiddovenests/s/dcAEpyEXCu This one?

4

agirlcalledmally Mar 28, 2026 +1

Hahaha that’s the one!

1

this_HOAR_wants_MOAR Mar 27, 2026 +5

I just commented about them and then saw your comment. They are my spirit animal ❤️

5

Data_Chandler Mar 28, 2026 +3

Pigeons don't make nests, they materialize out of thin air as fully grown adults.

3

Zovort Mar 27, 2026 +35

Language. A lot of it is obviously learned but the framework for being able to do it is built in to our brain. Most interestingly is that it's a group of different things which allows us the flexibility to invent things like written language which is not instinctive, and wire it up to the parts of our brains that process grammar and concepts, bypassing the acoustic recognition part. Other animals communicate but none of them seem to have our ability with abstract language.

35

Tobias_Atwood Mar 27, 2026 +20

We're so wired for language and the development of it during our early childhood that not being exposed to language has direct, lifelong impacts on a person's intelligence.

20

ept_engr Mar 27, 2026 +21

Humans' special skill isn't exactly one thing - it's the ability to adapt to our environments. If a bird builds a nest and it fails, they'll likely build another one the same way. If a human makes a shelter that falls, they'll change it the next time to improve it.

21

Background-Ant4163 Mar 27, 2026 +40

Grasping reflex. We're born with it and gradually lose it. Makes sure we can hang onto mom in trees.

40

cocosoy Mar 27, 2026 +6

Crawling and walking are all natural skill, sure they need practice, but babies learn to do those even nobody teach them.

6

Grokent Mar 28, 2026 +14

Drawing the cool 'S'. There's always a handful in each generation that simply know.

14

[deleted] Mar 27, 2026 +3

Chewing

3

Alzusand Mar 28, 2026 +4

There is an universal experience and thats the tendency to pick up a straight stick that looks "nice" every man on earth has experienced this at least once. and I think it has to deal with the fact that a normal human is not that impressive as far as wild animals go. A human with a pointy spear however is a complete menace that can drive off almost every other animal. A group of humans with pointy spears can kill ANY other wild animal easily with a bit of coordination. Specially combined with the inherent capability of humans to just run almost forever thanks to sweat and to be able to throw things with insane power and accuracy.

4

this_HOAR_wants_MOAR Mar 27, 2026 +2

Please Google "pigeon nests" 😂

2

Round-Brother-4863 Mar 27, 2026 +2

They learn to put question marks in the right spots.

2

TheFutureIsAFriend Mar 28, 2026 +1

You don't know that birds aren't taight that. We just haven't seen it being done.

1

GianMach Mar 27, 2026 +2

Most teen boys will start gooning sooner or later even when they were raised without any sort of sex ed talk

2

Firm_Panic_2265 Mar 27, 2026 +1

They can do whatever they think

1

Own_Calligrapher5349 Mar 27, 2026 +1

a lot of basic skills do seem innate, like communication and social interactions. it's wild how some instincts are just built-in like that.

1

Icy_Meringue_5534 Mar 27, 2026

https://youtube.com/shorts/sWV8AFtuUvY?si=IjPlgxSGBiBMkCBF Bird builds nest.

0

What useful life skills do humans know instinctively. Birds aren't taught complex nest construction. They just know what to do?

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