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Asked by elizabethlee to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 27 Jun 2012.
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SarahJayne Boulton answered on 27 Jun 2012:
When we develop as foetuses, we all start out by developing a base level of everything we need to mature into either sex, this includes a basic set of nipples!
The sex specific development of the foetus starts later on once this base level has been established, in girls they go on to develope ovaries and the precursor parts for boobies, but in boys, the nipple stop developing and just kind of stay as they are, kind of vestigial and left over, they don’t develope glands like girls do.
They’re just kind of useless are man nipples, but there’s no evolutionary advantage to not having them. Maybe male mutants without nipples were even selected out by our caveman ancestors for just looking too weird?! 😀
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Paige Brown answered on 28 Jun 2012:
Very good question!!! This seems like simply an evolutionary ‘left-over’, since men naturally inherit some genes from their moms as well as their dads! We know why females have nipples… so perhaps it’s just genetically encoded to some extent by all females and mothers!
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Gemma Staite answered on 1 Jul 2012:
SJ is spot on with this answer. Men end up with the nipple and some breast tissue, but the key difference is the lack of the gland in men.
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