Holy Bat Breasts, Batman!
October 7, 2006 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under extended breastfeeding
I recently witnessed a live-bat program sponsored by the Organization for Bat Conservation. As my daughters and I marveled at the tiny fruit bat cradled before us, the presenter mentioned that bats are mammals. In fact, they are the only mammals that can fly (not counting flying squirrels or flying lemurs, which actually glide rather than fly). The fact that bats are mammals also means that they have mammary glands and nurse their pups up to six months of age. Studies of fruit bats show that
“pups nurse until they are 95% of adult skeletal size (Kurta and Kunz 1987, Barclay 1995) …read more
