Up until a certain point of our history, we didn’t know that caterpillars and butterflies are the same creature.

You are giving them way too much credit. Yes, they knew less than we do, but they did know enough to figure it out.

They knew how humans reproduce. They knew how dogs reproduce. Same for cats, goats, cows, horses, rabbits and so on. Hell, they even knew about insect reproduction, we've been beekeeping for more than 10000 years. I can forgive them not figuring out mold and such, but come on. The mice thing is particularly surprising. "Hey, we know all these other furry animals have sex and give birth... but mice in particular? Nah, they just spontaneously appear in grain silos!"

At that point it's not lack of information, it's just stupidity.

/r/Showerthoughts Thread Parent