# Animal and Human Male Breast Warts/Nipples **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936 "2009-02-22T11:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/1 "2009-02-22T11:29:16Z")
What’s the benefit for Animal and Human Male to have Breast Warts/Nipples, it seems that all Animal Male with toes on there Feet also have Breast Warts/Nipples, i can not see any reason why Evolution schould not have them disapear over time, so the question is why do they, and we, still have them? ---
**Author:** ![Westrogothia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@Westrogothia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Westrogothia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/2 "2009-02-22T11:40:56Z")
why would they go away? a male without mammary papilla would have no evolutionary advantage compared to one with them. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/3 "2009-02-22T12:12:35Z")
Anything that made it go away for a male would do the same for a female. It’s enlargement is triggered by hormones. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/4 "2009-02-22T13:54:16Z")
Remember that evolution is not a thinking process; it’s just what happens when mutations occur that make it more likely for that mutant to have living grandchildren than it’s peers. So our first step in evolving nippleless men is just for that mutation to occur. That doesn’t seem to happen very often - the nipples are fairly complex structures, even undeveloped in men, and it’s far more likely for a person to be born with additional nipples than without them at all. The second step is for our nippleless mutant to pass that trait along to his offspring. Again, unlikely, because we’re diploid creatures - even a child with a nippleless father will likely have perfectly formed nipples from the genes on his/her mother’s side. The third step, assuming we have a nippleless mutant who breeds nippleless children, is for him to breed lots more babies who go on to have nippleless children than his neighbors breed normal children. Again, unlikely. Lack of nipples could very well be a turn off for too many people to breed with nippleless mutants, and probably offers no advantage at all. Could this change? Sure. What if our environment changes and we get an epidemic of breast cancer? Then the nippleless mutants might have an advantage - if they also lack breast tissue, they might survive while the rest of us are dropping like flies. But as long as our environment remains roughly the same, such an evolution is unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/5 "2009-02-22T14:41:36Z")
This actually came up as a Jeopardy question the other day, and the explanation was that the nipples develop while the fetus is still androgynous. ---
**Author:** ![HumanMonkeyGod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c67d28/32.png) [@HumanMonkeyGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumanMonkeyGod)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/6 "2009-02-22T15:08:26Z")
Because trolls love them so. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/7 "2009-02-22T15:23:54Z")
Please refrain from calling nipples, “Breast Warts”. I refuse to think of them that way!..:eek::eek::eek::eek: … Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn’t let this phrase go un-commented!! ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/8 "2009-02-22T16:22:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > This actually came up as a Jeopardy question the other day, and the explanation was that the nipples develop while the fetus is still androgynous. Right. If I remember correctly, until a certain point, the fetus can develop into either male or female\*, and so are equipped with all the parts required. In males, the ovaries descend to testicles, the clitoris enlarges and becomes a penis, etc. Nipples stay, because they’re there from the beginning. \*and sometimes not perfectly either, leading to intersexed children. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/9 "2009-02-22T16:25:28Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > What’s the benefit for Animal and Human Male to have Breast Warts/Nipples, > it seems that all Animal Male with toes on there Feet also have Breast Warts/Nipples, i can not see any reason why Evolution schould not have them disapear over time, so the question is why do they, and we, still have them? I believe they are a feature of Intelligent Design. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/10 "2009-02-22T16:53:50Z")
Since I haven’t seen it remarked on yet, I’d like to point out that almost male mammals have nipples. Not just the ones “with toes on there Feet[sic]”. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/11 "2009-02-22T17:04:40Z")
And I missed the edit window the second time around. Argh. …okay, while I knew that stallions and bulls didn’t have nipples, I’d honestly assumed most male animals _did_ possess them. Now I feel a bit silly. Is there some big book o’ nipples out there that can illuminate me on which male animals have nipples and which don’t? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/12 "2009-02-22T17:07:47Z")
> [@Oregon\_sunshine](#): > > Please refrain from calling nipples, “Breast Warts”. I refuse to think of them that way!..:eek::eek::eek::eek: > > .. Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn’t let this phrase go un-commented!! I agree with this. Once was bad enough, but every time you use the word “nipple”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/13 "2009-02-22T17:12:28Z")
" ‘I mean, really, is there anything more useless than an out-of-work hero?’ She named two. ‘Very funny. Besides, they’re not useless. They break up the monotony of the male chest.’ " ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/14 "2009-02-22T17:19:28Z")
Male _mammals_. I’d thought most male _mammals_… :smack: I should know better than to try to post in GQ on Sunday morning. I need coffee before my function again brains. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/15 "2009-02-22T18:45:23Z")
> [@Simple\_Mind](#): > > . . . i can not see any reason why Evolution schould not have them disapear over time . . . Evolution doesn’t work that way. Nipples don’t prevent males from procreating, so why should they disappear? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/16 "2009-02-22T22:08:08Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Evolution doesn’t work that way. Nipples don’t prevent males from procreating, so why should they disappear? And how many questions do we have to get this week where the answer is basically “evolution doesn’t work that way” before we’ve reached our quota? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/17 "2009-02-23T01:06:26Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > And how many questions do we have to get this week where the answer is basically “evolution doesn’t work that way” before we’ve reached our quota? I know, I’m getting tired of having to say it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/18 "2009-02-23T01:47:40Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Evolution doesn’t work that way. Nipples don’t prevent males from procreating, so why should they disappear? Completely useless features can disappear without positive pressure to eliminate them - if they don’t do anything, then mutations can break them without detriment to reproduction - like eyes in cave-dwelling organisms - they don’t necessarily hinder reproduction, but can disappear through attrition, because there’s no great _disadvantage_ from a mutation that impairs them. Of course, nipples in mammals don’t work that way, because they are still required by females, and their development is sufficiently common to both sexes that they can’t be dropped out of one and not the other. But that’s the reason - not lack of pressure to eliminate them. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/19 "2009-02-23T01:50:59Z")
[The Master spoke](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/85/why-do-men-have-nipples) on this one nearly thirty years ago: > [@](#): > > In other words, nipples are just one of those sexually neutral pieces of equipment, like arms or brains, that humans get regardless of sex. > > As you may know, every human being gets a unique set of 23 pairs of chromosomes at conception. These fall into two categories. One pair of chromosomes determines sex–the XX combination means you become female, the XY combination means you become male. > > The other 22 pairs, the non-sex chromosomes (they’re called autosomes), supply what we might call the standard equipment that all humans get. These 22 pairs constitute an all-purpose genetic blueprint that in effect is programmed for either maleness or femaleness by the sex chromosomes. The programming is done by the hormones secreted by the sex glands. […] > > Human nipples appear in the third or fourth week of development, well before the sex characteristics. (The sex hormones start to assert themselves at seven weeks.) […] > > Anyway, 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. ---
**Author:** ![Della](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@Della](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Della)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936/20 "2009-02-23T06:01:30Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > And I missed the edit window the second time around. Argh. > > …okay, while I knew that stallions and bulls didn’t have nipples, I’d honestly assumed most male animals _did_ possess them. Now I feel a bit silly. Is there some big book o’ nipples out there that can illuminate me on which male animals have nipples and which don’t? For what it’s worth, male rats also lack nipples. It’s one quick and easy way of differentiating between the sexes during early development, before the males hit their big growth spurt. I’m not sure whether the males of other rodent species, like mice or squirrels, are also nipple-free. Next time I’m in close quarters with a squirrel I’ll make sure to take a look. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-and-human-male-breast-warts-nipples/486936.md?page=2)