Orangutans Suckle for up to Eight Years, Teeth Reveal (1 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Orangutans Suckle for up to Eight Years, Teeth Reveal (1 of 6)

Caption

Wild orangutan mother and 11-month old infant from Borneo. Investigations of barium in teeth from other individuals show a pattern of increasing mothers' milk consumption during the first year of life, which is consistent with behavioral observations of exclusive nursing.. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 19 May 2017, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by T.M. Smith at Griffith University in Nathan, QLD, Australia, and colleagues was titled, "Cyclical nursing patterns in wild orangutans."

Credit

[Credit: Tim Laman]

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