"Nearly a Decade Nursing? Study Pierces Orangutans' Mother-Child Bond" - Steph Yin
Orangutans sometimes nurse into their ninth year of life, a study found, possibly because of environmental fluctuations in food, with unpredictable booms and busts in fruit. Offspring often suckle inconspicuously, high up in trees or at night, and even when suckling is observed, it's hard to know whether the animals are consuming milk or just comfort nursing, with no milk transfer. To get around this., Christine Austin, MD, postdoctoral fellow, environmental medicine and public health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Manish Arora, BDS, MPH, PhD, director of exposure biology at the Senator Frank Lautenberg Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai, found a proxy for milk intake in orangutan teeth. Teeth are great for studying change over time because you can date them by growth rings, much like trees, Dr. Arora s
- Manish Arora, BDS, MPH, PhD, Director of Exposure Biology, Associate Professor, Environmental Medicine, Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Christine Austin, MD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Medicine, Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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