I just saw a video of a mommy and baby gorilla laying down in the grass, cuddling. While watching it I noticed how the gorilla’s breasts looked very similar to humans, and began pondering just how far those similarities go. Are there mammals who fail to produce milk? Do those babies just die? In the event of the animal belonging to a pack, will other mothers feed the baby who can’t receive milk from it’s own mother?
In: Biology
Yes, some mothers fail to produce milk, especially in hard times when food is less available. And, yes, those babies generally just die. Sometimes they’re abandoned before they die because mom is desperate for food herself and can’t afford to keep trying to produce inadequate milk. Baby’s going to die anyway, it’s better for her survival to not waste resources trying to keep it alive.
Whether or not the baby will be supported by others in the group depends on the animal and how social they are. For many social animals, the answer is absolutely yes. The whole pack survives better when they share resources, and a mother taking care of someone else’s baby now means that someone else will probably take care of her baby later. But that’s not universal – some animals won’t waste resources for offspring that isn’t their own. Spending resources on milk for someone else’s baby means fewer resources for your own baby, or just fewer resources for yourself and your own survival.
Then again, some animals will straight up kidnap the offspring of others in the group if their own offspring dies, because the instincts to care for a baby are so strong. It really depends on the species and even sometimes the individual, and the circumstances.
Latest Answers