# Strange navel questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 1999, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996 "1999-11-29T19:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/1 "1999-11-29T19:58:00Z")
I didn’t sleep much last night, which probably explains the strangeness of these questions: Is it possible to surgically remove one’s navel? Has it ever been done? Why? How about adding an extra one? Here’s my lame question: Why do we have navels but dogs and cats don’t? Is there another species out there that has belly buttons just like us? * * * Will work for sig line. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/2 "1999-11-29T20:19:00Z")
My friend who at one time weighed in over 800 lbs and is currently around 275 is having a surgery to remove the excess skin. In so doing he will lose his belly button. He can have one surgically put back in, but that is all cosmetic. I am just looking forward to tanning his skin and making him a vest a la concentration camp. It will be the newest fad in human clothing. 😉 HUGS! Sqrl ## PS. Making the vest was a joke. Gasoline: As an accompaniement to cereal it made a refreshing change. Glen Baxter ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/3 "1999-11-29T20:23:00Z")
_phouka: Why do we have navels but dogs and cats don’t? Is there another species out there that has belly buttons just like us?_ They do, but they’re much smaller than ours. They look like tiny scars, not the innie/outie design that we have. All mammals except the egg-laying type have navels. And since they don’t wear clothes, they don’t have belly-button lint, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/4 "1999-11-29T20:30:00Z")
As it happens, this question was addressed in [Cecil’s first column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_001a.html). ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/5 "1999-11-29T21:23:00Z")
Alfred Hitchcock didn’t have a navel; it was lost in surgery. There you go. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/6 "1999-11-29T21:31:00Z")
Well I must say that after reading Cecil’s column I was not satisfied. Shouldn’t his sentence read “Virtually all mammals _except monotremes_ have belly buttons”? Monotremes being the mammals that lay eggs, e.g. the echidna or the duckbill platypus. In fact I’m tempted to post this in “comments on Cecil’s columns.” * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/7 "1999-11-29T22:17:00Z")
Does anyone know if any other animals besides mammals have navels? I know there are some snakes and fish that have live births, but I had always assumed that the internal development process was different than it is for mammals. However, they must be getting prenatal nutrients somehow. Do they have something like a placenta, or do they just develop in eggs that “hatch” before birth or something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 1999, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-navel-questions/4996/8 "1999-11-29T23:34:00Z")
The only creatures with umbilical cords are mammals. The other creatures that have “live” births, as in some species of snakes, actually have eggs without shells that “hatch” before birth. * * * La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit. H. de Livry