As Jurassic beasts roamed the Earth, a weasel-like animal called Morganucodon was making an evolutionary breakthrough in parenting — she was producing milk to feed her young. Author Cat Bohannon calls this creature Morgie in her 2023 book "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution."
“Morgie is the real Madonna,” writes author Cat Bohannon. “Creatures like her nursed their young in a dangerous world — not only to feed them, but also to keep them safe.”
There’s a direct line between Morgie and breastfeeding humans today. But unlike the singular Eve in the Bible, Bohannon argues that Morgie is one of several key ancestors in human evolutionary history. In her book, Bohannon unveils more of these Eves, or the last common ancestor of a trait humans share with other species.
On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, Bohannon shared what she learned in researching and writing her book, which is now available in paperback. Bohannon was in St. Louis County this week ahead of an author event.
“In deep evolution, there's just so much accident that got us to where we are today, and so many things are still, unsurprisingly, pretty janky in how our bodies work — but some of them are also quite beautiful,” Bohannon said on St. Louis on the Air.
The book covers the ancestral developers of milk, the womb, tools, menopause and more. Bohannon explores the evolutionary history of the human body from the lens of biology, anthropology and neuroscience to learn how female bodies shaped humanity.
Some of her takeaways are surprising, like that gynecology was the most important human invention. She ranks it above fire, penicillin and even the wheel.
“Our biggest bodily limitation actually was not how fast we could run or how sharp our teeth were, or any of that,” Bohannon said. “Our biggest limitation is that as a species, we kind of suck at making babies.”
Bohannon argues our relative lack of skill at having babies should have put us on the endangered species list. Instead, we invented midwifery.
“We are the only species that regularly helps one another give birth,” Bohannon said.
In a book of examples of the surprises female bodies hold and how they got there, Bohannon asks readers to think hard about women’s bodies and “how they shape what it means to be human.”
“Books like these, conversations like these, they're here to give you tools to use to describe that experience you're already an authority on,” Bohannon said. “They're here, more than anything else, to just enrich your understanding of this messy life you're living in this body that, frankly, is your only one you're going to get.”
To hear the full conversation with author Cat Bohannon, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
