Orangutans Nurse Their Young for More than Eight Years

Scientists think these apes switch to breastfeeding during periods of food scarcity.

Written byDiana Kwon

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Orangutans nurse their young for up to eight years, longer than any other mammal, according to a study published this week (May 17) in Science Advances.

To determine how long orangutans nursed their young, scientists assessed levels of barium, a trace element that is absorbed through maternal milk into offsprings’ teeth and bones. “This paper represents an exciting new method of determining weaning age from the teeth of wild primates,” Cheryl Knott, a biological anthropologist and director of the Gunung Palang Orangutan Project in Indonesia who was not involved in the study, told National Geographic.

Smith and colleagues analyzed nine teeth from four museum samples of young animals, two Bornean organutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and two Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii), and found that barium levels increased ...

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Meet the Author

Diana Kwon
Diana is a freelance science journalist who covers the life sciences, health, and academic life. She’s a regular contributor to The Scientist and her work has appeared in several other publications, including Scientific American, Knowable, and Quanta. Diana was a former intern at The Scientist and she holds a master’s degree in neuroscience from McGill University. She’s currently based in Berlin, Germany.
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