This chapter explores the evolution of mother's milk and its significance in the development and survival of newborns. It discusses the benefits of colostrum, the first thick milk produced after childbirth, and how it provides the baby with the mother's immune system. The chapter also highlights the role of wet nurses in population growth and the importance of considering the female body in understanding human reproduction.
In a special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt talks to Cat Bohannon about her new book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.
- RESOURCES:
- Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon (2023).
- "Genomic Inference of a Severe Human Bottleneck During the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition," by Wangjie Hu, Ziqian Hao, Pengyuan Du, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi, Jialong Cui, Yun-Xin Fu, Yi-Hsuan, and Haipeng Li (Science, 2023).
- "The Greatest Invention in the History of Humanity," by Cat Bohannon (The Atlantic, 2023).
- "A Newborn Infant Chimpanzee Snatched and Cannibalized Immediately After Birth: Implications for 'Maternity Leave' in Wild Chimpanzee," by Hitonaru Nishie and Michio Nakamura (American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 2018).
- "War in the Womb," by Suzanne Sadedin (Aeon, 2014).
- "Timing of Childbirth Evolved to Match Women’s Energy Limits," by Erin Wayman (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).
- "Bonobo Sex and Society," by Frans B. M. de Waal (Scientific American, 2006).