Why Do Men Have Nipples?
by Kelsey (AP Biology)
Got your attention…right? We all know why females have nipples, for reproductive purposes - to feed their offspring. But, why do males have nipples since they serve no purpose?
Believe it or not, all humans begin developing as females in the womb. In a male, the Y chromosome (females do not have this chromosome) will kick in after about 6 to 8 weeks. Nipples have already developed by this time. The genes on the Y chromosome code for male characteristics and the production of testosterone.
Not only do males have nipples, they also have milk glands and breast tissue, this means that it’s possible for men to develop breast cancer, even though it’s very rare.
If you haven’t noticed, most male mammals have nipples for the same reason. They start off as female. No other male mammals use their nipples for anything either. Some male horses do not have nipples. Male platypuses don’t either. As a matter of fact, female platypuses don’t have nipples either! Milk just flows through their pores.
The source of the information above is from Doctor’s Advice by Dr. Trisha Macnair and Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Walter Reeves.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
That was a really interesting post. I didn’t even know that all babies start off as females while in the mothers’ womb. I think the more interesting fact was that males also have milk glands and breast tissue.. I always wondered why men had nipples.. Well I found a site with some additional information on this topic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-7531,00.html
December 11th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I remember hearing about this in health one year!!! I was kinda confused about the part about males having milk glands. I wondered why they did not produce milk as well, so I looked it up. It’s because for the breasts to produce milk, the milk glands must be stimulated by a female hormone, estrogen. Males do not have estrogen, therefore they cannot produce milk. (But it is possible for them to with a sufficient dose of estrogen, but cases are incredibly rare).
December 11th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before. I never knew that all babies start out as females. That is really interesting that the Y cromosome dosen’t take effect until after the nipples are formed. Can some men be born without nipples? Also is that why you can’t tell what gender you baby is until a few months before birth?
December 11th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
i remember a couple years ago when breast cancer was really popluar and even though most of the cases were found in females a good amount were found in males to. and i do have a question…is that why when you get pregnant they say you have to wait about a month and a half if you want to know the sex of your baby?
December 11th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
kelsy it all makes since now. I have wondered why my dog has nipples for like since I got it. honestly though it’s really weird thinking I was once a female. Well I went and looked up the platapus to the neither the male or female have nipples and none off the 8 sites I looked at told me why but, I got a a really cool picture of platypus with no nipples on this site. http://www.genevaschools.org/austinbg/class/gray/platypus/
December 11th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
That was a really cool article! Ive always wondered about that, but I never thought that it really mattered because men dont really use them for anything. I never knew that all babies started out as girls. I also never knew that men have milk glands and breast tissue, I thought that was really unusual. heres an article on men’s health talking about that.
http://menshealth.about.com/od/conditions/a/Nipples_Men.htm
December 12th, 2007 at 12:07 am
No intended male bashing… but go females. I think it’s fascinating that we all start off as females! I know that breast cancer in women and both men are normally caused with inherited genes. It’s weird to think that men can get breast cancer, but it makes sense because of their breast tissue has the similarites to a womens. What I didn’t know, is that mutations in the breast tissue (caused by types of high radiation) can cause the cancer too in men!
December 12th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I’ve heard this question before, and still wondered why men do have nipples until i read your article. Something i learned from this article was that when we are being developed and our mother’s womb one of our chromosomes will kick in making us male or female. Wow, i think that it is a little weird that men have milk glands. So a question i have is what makes the chromosome kick in?
December 12th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Kelsey, that’s definitly an attention graber! What really caught me off gaurd was the fact that men can really get breast cancer. I don’t know about anybody else on here, but I have never heard of a case of male breast cancer so i guess it is pretty rare. A little tibit to add on: I was watching a program about human development on the histoy channel a month or so ago and I tuned in right when they were talking about whether the male nipples were vestigial or not. To prove this some couple in Europe did an experiment to see if males can really produce breast milk or not (since they do have the glands and tissue to do so.) As it turns out, when the man had concentrated enough to believe he could produce breast milk through his right breast and nurse a baby, it worked! His right breast swelled like a woman’s would when she was nursing and he actually produced enough breast milk to support the child. As strange as that sounds, its true. Men do have the same capabilty as women do. Take that Jackie!
December 12th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Thats quite interesting. I remember hearing that men have breast tissue and I thought if they do why dont they get breast cancer. You would never think that a male started off as female which is quite amusing ( no offense guys). I really think that its really interesting how babies develop in the wound. My mom is an obstetrition gynocologist ( spelling) and I have seen when babies are so small in the wound and its amazing.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I had no idea that all babies started out as females. That is a very good as well as interseting fact. I have tons of rumors as to why men have nipples but never the correct reason. It says that men also have milk glands, does this mean they produce milk same as females? Or are the milk glands of no use? Another question i would like entertained is: What determines wether or not the y chromosone will kick in?
I found some more information pertaining to the Y chromosone at this site:
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome=Y
December 12th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
That gross, but an interesting fact. It makes sense though. I guess that really everyone stumbles across that question at least once. I told my parents, they were surprised to hear this. My dad stared at me with a blank face and my mom started laughing hysterically. My sister called my dad a woman. haha
December 13th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Haha thats a really similar story to mine, Danielle. I was telling my dad when he was on the phone with my brother and my brother heard it and started laughing. Then my mom called all of us a bunch of girls haha. I was pretty funny. Anyone else get a weird response when they told their parents?
December 13th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Well, the whole “everyone is a girl at first” part is pretty weird but it does make some sense. The Y chromosome thing determines the gender so thats why parents cant tell right away if their baby is a boy or girl. By the way, Stevie, thats a really weird, and disgusting, story but it does prove a point.
Interesting post.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Isn’t this what was mentioned in the jurasic park movie?
December 14th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Yeah, umm my dad pretended to scream like a girl. Quite hilarious.. NOT haha he can be such a girl at times. It takes a real woman to straighten him out. Haha that was a really interesting post Kelsey. I have NEVER heard that before. What is the percentage of males to get breast cancer? Even though it is rare.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
haha yeah but my dad totally denyed it! he was like uhm there just there to be there and i was like WOW i actually know more about this then him! thats a first