Fascinating Facts about Mammals and Lactation
Deer tend to nurse their young for about four months. The fawn nurses about four times per day as a newborn and then after two weeks starts eating various plants in addition to nursing. (1)
A few years ago, I wrote a post about the pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding habits of grizzly bears. Black bears follow a similar pattern. The mother sleeps through her pregnancy, birth and the first three months of lactation. Then she goes on to nurse her cubs for a total of two years. (1)
Naked mole rats (one of my son’s favorite animals) can have up to 33 babies in a litter but the mother only has 10 nipples. Therefore, she is pretty much nursing her pups around the clock for the first month when the babies typically wean. (3)
Did you know that the mammal with the longest lactation period is the orangutan? Orangutan mothers nurse their babies for seven years or more! (1) Humans are primates just like orangutans and also are designed to nurse their young for years. (2) By observing other primates, we can get an idea about how long humans might breastfeed if they were well supported in doing so.
Dr. Katherine Dettwyler wrote a fascinating article comparing the markers for weaning in different primates and then correlating those to humans. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Primates tend to wean about the time of their young getting their first permanent molars. This would be around age 5.5-6 years old in humans.
- Gorillas tend to nurse their young for six times as long as their gestation so a 6:1 ratio. For humans, that would suggest 4.5 years as a weaning age. (4)
- Larger mammals tend to wean their young once the babies have quadrupled their birthweight. This would correlate to 2.5 to 3.5 years in humans. (5)
I hope you found these facts interesting! I also hope Katherine Dettwyler’s research encourages you if you desire or are already nursing a toddler or a preschooler.
Written by Gina Peterson
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