{"id":702033,"date":"2026-05-29T17:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702033\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:45:11","slug":"theres-an-animal-in-the-tropical-forests-of-borneo-that-breastfeeds-its-young-for-6-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702033\/","title":{"rendered":"There&#8217;s an animal in the tropical forests of Borneo that breastfeeds its young for 6.5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Orangutans have long lives, often reaching 40 years old in the wild. Now, a new study has revealed that these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/great-ape-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">great apes<\/a> have one of the longest breastfeeding periods among mammals.<\/p>\n<p>The research, published in the journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42003-026-09968-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Communications Biology<\/a>, shows that wild <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-orangutans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">orangutan<\/a> juveniles consume their mother\u2019s milk continuously until they are at least six and a half years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scientists already knew that orangutan offspring breastfeed for a long time. But previous studies have been unable to clearly quantifying milk intake, leading to contradictory estimates for their weaning age.<\/p>\n<p>In the new study, the team spent almost three years collecting and examining faecal samples from wild Bornean orangutans in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.<\/p>\n<p>They used a technique known as faecal proteomics, which identifies specific proteins in faeces. Orangutan milk contains several proteins that other food sources do not, so discovering them in a juvenile\u2019s faeces provides evidence that they are still consuming breast milk.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1586\" height=\"896\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mother-and-juvenile-wild-Bornean-orangutans.jpeg\" alt=\"Hellen and Lucy watch researchers from a higher canopy. Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia.&#10;\" class=\"wp-image-166885\"\/>Orangutans Hellen and Lucy watch researchers from a higher canopy in Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Credit: Takumi Tsutaya<\/p>\n<p>Further studies comparing the milk\u2011specific proteins with biological defence proteins suggest the more milk a young orangutan consumes, the stronger its biological defences.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers believe that breastfeeding for such a long period could explain why orangutans have one of the lowest infant mortality rates among <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/what-are-primates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">primates<\/a>. On the flipside, it also means they are slow to recover after population declines.<\/p>\n<p>The study notes that \u201cfaecal proteomics can be applied to a wide range of wild animal populations, with the potential to uncover novel aspects of behaviour and physiology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1750\" height=\"1309\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mother-and-infant-wild-Bornean-orangutans.jpeg\" alt=\"Lina and Kate behind a tree bush. Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia.&#10;\" class=\"wp-image-166884\"\/>Lina and Kate in a tree at Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Credit: Takumi Tsutaya<\/p>\n<p>Top image: View of Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Credit: Nora Carol Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orangutans have long lives, often reaching 40 years old in the wild. Now, a new study has revealed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-702033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}