All mammals feed their young. Beluga
whale mothers, for example, nurse their calves for
some twenty months, until
they are about to give birth again and their young are able to
find their own food. The
behavior of feeding of the young is built into the reproductive
Line system. It is a nonelective part of parental
care and the defining feature of a mammal, the
(5) most important thing that mammals-- whether
marsupials, platypuses, spiny anteaters, or
placental mammals -- have in common.
But not...