Orangutan Moms Are The Primate Champs Of Breast-Feeding
Orangutans breast-feed up to nine years, longer than any other primate. That may help offspring survive food shortages. But humans may have gained a survival advantage from weaning earlier.
When it comes to breast-feeding, orangutans are the champs.
Past studies of orangutans in the wild have found that mothers nurse their offspring for up to seven years, longer than any other primate.
But a new study of orangutan teeth suggests even that estimate is low, a team reports Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
The study, an author of the paper and a researcher in the department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.
