ARMADILLOS FEELING STRESS CAN DELAY BIRTHS FOR 2 YEARS Armadillos, like a few other mammals, have long been known to delay the implantation of early embryos into the uterine wall for three to four months. This, plus a five-month period of active development, makes their normal term of gestation eight to nine months.

These species vary wildly from wallabies and kangaroos to seals and armadillos. For each animal, the break from pregnancy is a little different. It can last anywhere between a few days and 11 months. Interestingly for us Aussies, more than 1/3 of the animals who pause their pregnancy are native to Australia.

Most carnivores can pause their pregnancies, including all bears and most seals, but so can many rodents, deer, armadillos, and anteaters. More than a third of the species that take a breather during gestation are from Australia, including some possums and all but three species of kangaroo and wallaby.

Richard, the world’s most premature baby to survive, proved them wrong: He just turned 1. On June 5, 2020 — four months before her due date — Richard’s mother, Beth Hutchinson, abruptly went into labor. She was 21 weeks and two days pregnant, meaning only about halfway to full gestation.

But thanks to medical advances, children born after twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy, and weighing more than 2 pounds 3 ounces (1 kg), have almost a full chance of survival; eight out of ten of those born after the thirtieth week have minimal long-term health or developmental problems, while those preterm babies born …

The more premature the baby is, the lower the chances of survival are. Very few infants survive when they are born at 22 to 23 weeks of pregnancy.

Allyn B. Saybie, Born at 8.6 Ounces, Is Now Believed to Be the World’s Tiniest Surviving Baby. National Public Radio, May 29, 2019.

A baby, who was born 24 weeks premature and weighed just 500gm at the time of birth, has managed to fight all odds and survive. Three months of special care later, she is ready to go home. HT reports.

23 weeks and three days