Human–animal breastfeeding
Breastfeeding animals has also been practised, whether for perceived health reasons – such as to toughen the nipples and improve the flow of milk – or for religious and cultural purposes.
Most famously, twin brothers Romulus and Remus (the former founded Rome) were portrayed as having been raised by a she-wolf which suckled the infants, as depicted in the iconic image of the Capitoline Wolf.
[5] A 12th century novel from Al-Andalus, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan,[6] has the title character growing up in isolation on a tropical island, fed and raised by an antelope.
Stories of abandoned children being brought up by animal mothers such as she-wolves and bears were widespread in Europe from the Middle Ages and into modern times.
His coarse, curly hair was attributed to his being (supposedly) suckled by a bear, based on the premise that characteristics of the animal foster mother had been transmitted to him via her milk.
[8]) The belief that animal characteristics could be transmitted via milk was widely held; the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus thought that being suckled by lionesses conferred great courage.
[citation needed] In the 18th and 19th centuries, goats were widely used in Europe as alternatives to human wet nurses, as they were easier to obtain, cheaper to use and safer, in that they were less prone to passing on diseases.
[citation needed] In France, homes for foundlings (abandoned babies) often kept large numbers of goats to feed the infants, as they were considered less problematic than lower-class wet nurses.
"[9] Ancient Greek and Roman physicians including Galen, Aretaeus, Hipposcrates, and Alexander of Tralles believed that donkey milk was a superior treatment for human illness and an antidote for poisons.
The reasons for this are varied: to feed young animals, to drain a woman's breasts, to promote lactation, to harden the nipples before a baby is born, to prevent conception, and so on.
[17] American animal trafficker Frank Buck claimed that human mothers in remote Indonesian villages would nurse to orangutan babies in hopes of keeping them alive long enough to sell to a wildlife trader.
When the writer Mary Wollstonecraft was dying of puerperal fever following the birth of her second daughter, the doctor ordered that puppies be applied to her breasts to draw off the milk, possibly with the intention of helping her womb to contract to expel the infected placenta that was slowly poisoning her.
Travelers in Guyana observed native women breastfeeding a variety of animals, including monkeys, opossums, pacas, agoutis, peccaries and deer.
"[23] According to Sir John Richardson, eighteenth Century Native Americans reportedly fed human breast milk to bison calves, wolves and bears.
[24] In 1875, a British surgeon named John Nisbet reportedly observed a group of Burmese women breastfeeding a royal white elephant in the Konbaung court.
[citation needed] In the late 16th Century, Konrad Heresbach recommended that mothers rid their bodies of their first milk, called colostrum, rather than allow their babies to drink it.
[25] How widely this idea was accepted is impossible to know, but it could have been an additional purpose for human-animal breastfeeding as women sought a means to discard colostrum while establishing a milk supply for their baby.
[26] In Ireland, 22-year-old model and PETA member Agata Dembiecka became the focus of controversy in 2010 when a calendar issued by an animal rescue charity featured a photograph of her suckling a puppy.
