Re: Why don't male nipples work?

I find Bill's question very interesting, and this is another response that I
think misses the target. My response here is to ask, if it is so simple,
why don't male mammals produce a pulse of female hormones to make
functionally mature breasts? It would seem that the ability to breast feed
by males would be quite an advantage in at least some mammalian systems.

Guy


in article f37036$1n1j$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Peter Ashby at
pashby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 5/25/07 8:41 AM:

Bill Morse <wdNOSPAmorse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There have been a number of discussions on the NG, not to mention an article
by Gould, on why some male mammals have nipples. My wife recently raised
the question of why no male mammals have functional nipples. Why aren't
there any male breast feeders?

I am not looking for explanations based on why female mammals are more
likely to be primary care givers than male mammals. There are still
examples in mammals of relatively equal care, and in this case one might
expect that functional male nipples could be an advantage and would be
selected. Is it just chance that it hasn't happened, or is there some
developmental reason why it is difficult?

Men do get breast cancer, in the same tissue women do, but at a much
reduced rate. The only difference is that during puberty female breast
and nipple tissue is stimulated to grow and develop whereas normal male
tissue is not. There is no difference in the raw material between the
sexes. I suspect males have not lost the tissue or nipples because they
are not a sufficient problem to have been selected against.

Peter


.

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