• Question: How do humans and animals generate milk?

    Asked by to Emma, Jimmy, Janet, Niall, Simon on 13 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Mammals produce milk in their mammary glands, which are special glands that have evolved to do the job. The mammal has to eat food to make their blood full of the right stuff, then that blood is pumped through the mammary glands which pick out the nutrients they choose to make the milk.

    • Photo: Emma Ashley

      Emma Ashley answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      Mammals generate milk because a hormone called prolactin is released from a part of your brain (the pituitary gland) into the blood stream. This stimulates the mammary glands to produce milk. Prolactin is only released at the later stages of pregnancy and after giving birth.

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