Hi everyone,

I did an extensive amount of research when I was preparing If My Mom Were A
Platypus: Animal Babies and Their Mothers.  Among the things I found out were
that it is practically unknown for a mammal to give birth and not nurse her
young.  Also, almost all babies that get to a nipple will thrive.  The issue
in nature is with the animals that have more babies than nipples.  In some
cases, the young will share (like dogs and pigs), in others the nipple
belongs to the one who got there first (is that where "First come, first
served" comes from?).  Marsupials are not known for sharing nipples (at a
possum birth, those who don't get to one of the coveted nipples die shortly
after the birth).  Some mammals nurse for a total of 4 days and others nurse
for 7 years, but in each case, breastfeeding is how young mammals go from
helplessness to independence.

It is hard to imagine that bad latch is a common problem among our animal
relatives....

- Dia

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Dia L. Michels
Platypus Media
627 A Street, NE
Washington, DC  20002
Toll-free 1-877-PLATYPS (1-877-752-8977)
202-546-1674 / 202-546-2356-fax
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PlatypusMedia.com




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