# Could the placenta continue to function? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909 "2015-11-07T16:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/141 "2015-11-19T21:26:46Z")
I had guinea pigs when I was a kid, and they often gave birth, and I had to peel the placenta off the litter and throw it out. It looked pretty similar to a (small) human placenta to me. shrug ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/142 "2015-11-20T02:07:30Z")
Rodents have the same type of placenta as primates (hence humans). A lot of carnivores have different types of placentas, ruminants have another type, pigs another one, and horses have a variation on the type the pig has. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/143 "2015-11-20T08:18:40Z")
I didn’t know that. We’ve had kittens born in the house, but the mom cat has eaten the placentas before we find the kittens, so I don’t know what cat placentas look like. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/144 "2015-11-20T11:52:29Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I didn’t know that. We’ve had kittens born in the house, but the mom cat has eaten the placentas before we find the kittens, so I don’t know what cat placentas look like. They look like a band around the center. [Here’s a breakdown on different types of placentas.](http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/structure.html) [All the placentas and more that you wanted to know about.](http://placentation.ucsd.edu/) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/145 "2015-11-20T12:59:57Z")
> [@Nullpersona](#): > > To restate the original question: > > Could the decidua continue to function? There’s a hint in there for the botanically-minded. Decidua sounds a lot like “deciduous”. Maybe we should be asking whether we can keep tree leaves alive indefinitely, since it’s a waste and sort of vaguely sinful to let them die every fall. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/146 "2015-11-20T14:46:19Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > They look like a band around the center. [Here’s a breakdown on different types of placentas.](http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/structure.html) > > [All the placentas and more that you wanted to know about.](http://placentation.ucsd.edu/) Cool, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Nullpersona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nullpersona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nullpersona)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/147 "2015-11-20T17:51:06Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > What kind of response are you looking/hoping for? > > If you are looking for a “no”, you have found many here. > > If you are looking for a “yes”, you have found at least one here: Mine. (I’ve always been a sucker for kooky theoretically possible ideas. I take them in like other people do stray dogs.) > > If you are looking for a “no” or a “yes” that is _backed up by evidence_, as in good experimental evidence from people who have actually tried to make it happen (which is, IMHO, what you really should be looking for if you are really serious about your enquiry) I humbly suggest that you are highly unlikely to find it here. > > Got to [pubmed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=placenta). Scrounge around. It will be much more work than tossing out open ended questions and crafty metaphors\* in this forum, but, if your willing to do that work, you will get further long in your quest. > > \*I’ve noticed your metaphors are often plant based. Do you have a background in farming, botany, horticulture, or something like that? Are you familiar with the Socratic method? That format is likely most similar to my intent here. I presented, more or less, the argument, “Decidua are the root of humanity.” People thinking about it and talking about it was the aim. Before I bring it up, most people have never heard of the placenta. I may not have the academic background to be an authority, but the responses of “I wouldn’t want to carry it around.” and “No way, that would be like ‘Insert Movie/Book (usually Matrix)’”, or my personal favorite “Naw man, you are connected to your mom by your di\*\*.” motivate me to share. For most, the belly button is a place for lint. Few know that many large organisms would not exist without what they represent, including humans. I haven’t even brought up the porosity of all eggshells, and the ways they interact with a fluid medium. There are patterns in the successes of living things. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > There’s a hint in there for the botanically-minded. > > Decidua sounds a lot like “deciduous”. > > Maybe we should be asking whether we can keep tree leaves alive indefinitely, since it’s a waste and sort of vaguely sinful to let them die every fall. Witty. Where language defines reality, rather than translating it, this would be evident. It is likely called the “decidua” based on observations. Reality defined the observations of leaves falling, and placentas falling off as congruent. Had those who coined the term known it’s function more intimately, it is likely a more root-based term would have been applied. tl;dr Limited perspectives lead to labels. Labels are stories. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/148 "2015-11-20T18:06:18Z")
> [@Nullpersona](#): > > Are you familiar with the Socratic method? Yes. > [@](#): > > That format is likely most similar to my intent here. No. ---
**Author:** ![Nullpersona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nullpersona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nullpersona)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/149 "2015-11-20T18:12:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yes. > No. The problem is that you think you are right. My intent is mine to define. Your disagreement is just evidence of your contradictory nature. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909/150 "2015-11-20T19:39:04Z")
**Moderator Action** This is getting well out of the bounds of GQ. Please keep in mind that GQ is for factual questions. Some of this has been factual, some of it hasn’t. If you want to engage in wild speculation and opinions, try IMHO. If you want a debate, try GD. If you want to get snippy with other posters, there’s the Pit. I think we’ve done about as much as we can factually with this one. Thread closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-placenta-continue-to-function/736909.md?page=7)