Human–animal breastfeeding
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Human–animal breastfeeding has been practised in many different cultures in many time periods. The practice of breastfeeding or suckling between humans and other species has gone in both directions: human females sometimes breastfeed young animals, and animals are used to suckle babies and children. Animals were used as substitute wet nurses for infants, particularly after the rise of syphilis increased the health risks of wet nursing. Goats and asses were widely used to feed abandoned babies in foundling hospitals in 18th and 19th century Europe. Breastfeeding animals has also been practised, whether for health reasons – such as to toughen the nipples and improve the flow of milk – or for religious and cultural purposes. A wide variety of animals have been used for this purpose, including puppies, kittens, piglets and monkeys.
Mythology and stories
The suckling of animals by infants was a repeated theme in classical mythology. Most famously, the legendary founders of Rome – the twins Romulus and Remus – were portrayed as having been raised by a she-wolf which suckled the infants, as depicted in the iconic image of the Capitoline Wolf. The Greek god Zeus was said to have been brought up by Amalthea, portrayed variously as a goat who suckled the god or as a nymph who brought him up on the milk of her goat. Similarly, Telephus, the son of the demigod Heracles, was suckled by a deer. Several famous ancient historical figures were claimed to have been suckled by animals; Cyrus I of Persia was said to have been suckled by a dog, while mares supposedly suckled Croesus, Xerxes and Lysimachus. In reality, though, such stories probably owed more to myth-making about such prominent figures, as they were used as evidence of their future greatness.
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. One real-life case was that of Peter the Wild Boy, found in northern Germany in 1724. 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. (It is now thought he had Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a condition unidentified until 1978.
