Jim Swayze wrote:
>
> Todd > Rennet-fermented cheese would have been available to paleolithic
> people to an extent that simple whole milk would not have been.
>
> Why is this so?  Wouldn't lactating females been considered fair game?
> Like the stomach contents of sucklings, wouldn't the mammary gland have
> been milked and the contents consumed?  Wouldn't this have been just as
> common?
>

I wonder whether the "let-down" reflex works very well after an animal
is dead. I'm certainly not an expert on wild game mammary function, but
I don't think it's as if the females are walking around with the
equivalent of bags full of milk that you can tap. If they are anything
like humans the milk is held in many small ducts and is released by the
let-down reflex which is stimulated primarily by suckling, which leads
me to think you couldn't get a significant amount of fresh milk from a
dead animal. Has anyone tried it?

Hilary McClure
Danville, Vermont