Simple Summary Allonursing and allosuckling are behaviors displayed by some females,
characterized by nursing and feeding non-filial offspring. Although both are costly behaviors …

While allonursing, the provision of milk to non-offspring by females, involves a potential cost
to their own offspring, allosuckling, the suckling from females other than their own mother …

Suckling of a non-filial calf, or allosuckling, is an extreme case of allomaternal care in
mammals. There have been many hypotheses postulated in an attempt to explain this …

Highlights•We report in detail for the first time the occurrence of allonursing in giraffes.•We
found the highest rate of allonursing ever recorded among mammals.•We investigated …

Allosuckling, the suckling of offspring from females other than their own mother, has been
reported in a number of mammalian species, including reindeer. The causes and function of …

In mammals, females occasionally nurse offspring that are not their own. The function of
allosuckling for foster females remains puzzling given that lactation is energetically costly …

The hypothesized causes and functions of allosuckling can co-occur and influence each
other (ie, non-mutually exclusive). In our two previous studies of allosuckling in reindeer …

Allomaternal care (AMC) is provided to the offspring by individuals other than the genetic
mother, including several seemingly altruistic behaviors such as babysitting, carrying …

Females in several ungulates transfer milk to non‐filial (NF) offspring, in a process known as
allonursing. This behavior is less common in monotocous species, including most …

While regular allomaternal nursing (suckling) has been documented in a number of rodent
and carnivore species, as well as in some prosimians, New World monkeys, and humans, it …