Mamels life animal

Usually Mammals Suck… Milk! showcases recent scholarly publications from throughout lactation biology, usually emphasizing the evolutionary perspective. However, those journal articles, so meticulous, brief, and jargony, often obscure the months and years scientists spend doing the science .    "Science has it ALL!" -Principal Skinner   Well, 2013 has been a really exciting year around the Comparative Lactation Lab and I am going to take a moment to high five my colleagues and the cool stuff everyone is doing. This summer, 3rd  year graduate student Laura Klein conducted pilot research for her dissertation. She investigates the types and levels of immune molecules in breast milk from women who live in different disease ecologies. During summer 2012, she collected milk samples and interviewed women at the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site in rural Poland established by Professor Grazyna Jasienska . Most families in this area live on small-scale farms or help relatives

At the grocery store, I can purchase a variety of infant formulas. For example, there are formulas for very low birth weight infants, soy-based formulas for infants with dairy allergies, and low-sodium formulas for infants who need restricted salt intake. But should I be able to buy Boy Formula or Girl Formula? The answer is… maybe. Recent research has shown that in deer, monkeys, and humans, mothers make different milk for sons and daughters. No two mammalian species produce identical milk . This is because for each species, milk synthesis reflects the environment, phylogeny , behavioral care, and developmental needs of the young ( Oftedal and Iverson 1995).  In terms of environment, the mother’s diet, the climate, and the community ecology can all be associated with milk composition and volume. Closely related species are more likely to produce similar milks due to shared genes. Behavioral care relates, in part, to how often the infant nurses. Young parked in nests, burrows, dens,