Why do men have nipples?

Answer 1

Males are basically just modified females. All humans begin life in the womb as female. Anatomically speaking, this is Mother Nature's basic template for the human form. We all develop along the female pathway for much of the first trimester and if no Y chromosome is present, then the fetus will continue to develop as a girl. However, if a Y chromosome *is* present, then the hormone testosterone will be produced and alter the developmental pathway. Ovaries become testes. The labia fuse to form a scrotum. The penis is just an enlarged clitoris threaded by a urethra. However, nipples and the seam on the underside of a male's scrotum (where the labia fused) are left as remainders of the original female state.

Answer 2

In a now-famous paper, Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin emphasize that we should not immediately assume that every trait has an adaptive explanation. Just as the spandrels of St. Mark's domed cathedral in Venice are simply an architectural consequence of the meeting of a vaulted ceiling with its supporting pillars, the presence of nipples in male mammals is a genetic architectural by-product of nipples in females.

So, why do men have nipples?

Because females do.

Answer 3

To tell you the truth, nobody really knows. The best explanation I've been able to find (and frankly it doesn't explain very much) is that nipples aren't a sex-linked characteristic. In other words, nipples are just one of those sexually neutral pieces of equipment, like arms or brains, that humans get regardless of sex.

Both male and female babies are born with the main milk ducts intact--the gland that produces milk is there in the male, but it remains undeveloped unless stimulated by the female hormone, estrogen. Occasionally, a male baby is born with enough of his mother's estrogen in his body to produce a bizarre phenomenon known as "witches' milk," with the male glands, suitably stimulated, pumping away at the moment of birth.

In the adult male, the dormant glands can still be revived by a sufficient dose of estrogen. Actual lactation is rare--only a couple cases have been recorded. But at least one writer (Daly, 1978) has suggested that the "physiological impediments to the evolution of male lactation do not seem individually surmountable." Meaning we may yet see the dawn of the truly liberated household.

Answer 4

When embroyos are created, they're neither male nor female, so they start developing what they'll need, and by the time that the sex hormones develop distinguishing the men from the women, the nipples have already developed.

There's a book on this written by a doctor, I think.

Answer 5

Because FEMALE is the sexual default. If something goes awry in the womb, like a chromosomal abnormality, that is usually how Hermaphroditism occurs. An embryo may end up with both external/internal sexual organs. Other aspects of males and females reflect sexual dimorphism, but both males and females will always have nipples.

Answer 6

In one native american tribe with 500 males none have nipples. They are known as The Indian Nippleless 500.

Answer 7

This is pure speculation.

In the animal kingdom, survival is the key. Often animals deploy deception tactics to discourage a predator. Butterflies have patterns on its wings to look like gaint eyes. If you think of primitive man, naked, with out stretched arms and legs (like in the Leonardo's drawing), doesn't it appear like the face of a larger animal. The nipples looked like eyes, belly button - the nose and "you-guessed-it", its mouth!

It must have been nature's gift for human survival before humans could build better weapons to defend themselves.

Answer 8

Why do we still have an appendix? They are part of our evolution. Even male dogs have nipples, they are small ones, barely there under the fur, but they are present. It is a holdover of evolution; just like our fingernails once were claws.

Answer 9

Theyre evolving, lol.

Its because we used to be asexual reproducers, and that is just one thing that they held onto. Theyre used, believe it or not. Theyre used for stimulation during sex.

Why do some people have a third nipple, is what I want to know....

Answer 10

men have nipples because it is in the genetic make-up of a fetus before it is fully developed...just think you could have been a woman...lol