Mammals are famous for their ability to produce milk, a special substance that is essential for providing newborns with the ingredients they need for healthy development. As it turns out, mammals aren’t the only ones. Milk-like substances have evolved in many groups of animals which nourish their developing young. In this episode, we discuss what milk is, what it does, how it seems to have evolved, and the surprisingly long list of times animals have evolved the habit of providing nutritious fluids to feed their offspring.

In the news: Anomalocaris diets, Asian alligators, ancient puberty, and the Cambrian Explosion.

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0