From time to time, unusual animal behavior comes to the attention of the science community. Now comes this study:
“Unusual Behaviour in Grey Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix cana): Females Breastfeeding Adult Males,” Bárbara Cartagena-Matos, Hilton Ferreira Japyassú, Mariana Cravo-Mota, and Bruna Martins Bezerra, Mammalian Biology-Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, vol. 80, no. 1 (2015): 59-62. (Thanks to Ig Nobel Prize winner Pascal Malkemper for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Campus Universitário de Santiago, Portugal, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, and the University of Bristol, UK, report:
“Breastfeeding between adult individuals has been reported in humans in the context of erotic lactation (e.g. Barlett 2005) and there is evidence of some whales suckling sporadically for as long as 13 years (Klinowska 1991). Here we provide observations of breastfeeding between adults in a group of grey woolly monkeys, Lagothrix cana.”
Here’s further detail from the study:
