A Curious Feature of Human Biology

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Human breasts are unique among mammals — a fact that has intrigued both artists and biologists

Among the roughly 5,000 mammalian species on Earth, humans are the only ones where breasts remain permanently visible. In most other mammals they appear only during nursing and disappear after lactation. In humans they develop during puberty and, thankfully, remain.

Ganga Subramaniam Oberoi, an Indian married woman, once received an award for having the most beautiful breasts in the world. It makes one wonder what the selection criteria might be. It cannot simply be size, because it is widely acknowledged that firmness, even skin tone, and a certain visual proportion are what matter more in breast aesthetics. Above all, there is the question of how a woman carries them — whether she is apologetic about them, or confident enough to hold her chest high and make their presence felt.

Ganga seems to score well on that last point, though I am not too sure about the first two.

By the way, size has no biological or evolutionary advantage. Larger breasts do not necessarily produce more milk. Milk production is primarily a function of glandular tissue, whereas size is largely due to the accumulation of fatty tissue, which has little bearing on lactation. It is somewhat similar to the common misconception that size alone determines potency in men.

This peculiarity has puzzled biologists for a long time. Charles Darwin suggested that breasts evolved as a visual sexual signal, replacing the swelling rear end of other female primates during ovulation. Once our ancestors began walking upright, the sexual organs were no longer as obvious to spot. Visible breasts may therefore have served as a more obvious indicator of sexual maturity.

I am not complaining, but of all the 5,000 mammalian species on Earth, only humans have permanent breasts.

It has been hard-wired in men that they generally select women on the basis of their fertility and ability to raise children. It works very subtly and at a subconscious level. In almost all cultures, female attractiveness is in some way related to fertility.

High levels of estradiol right around the time of ovulation are correlated with fertility. Women with such hormonal profiles tend to develop certain physical characteristics — relatively small waists with little fat, larger adipose deposits around the hips and thighs, and fuller breasts. In contemporary measurements, that translates to a low waist-hip ratio and a higher bust-underbust ratio.

Men cannot obviously conduct a fertility evaluation, but with a quick glance at a woman we subconsciously evaluate the body ratios and determine who appears more fertile, and thus more attractive.

From a biological perspective, then, breast size may function less as a direct advantage and more as a visual signal.

A kind of evolutionary advertisement. 

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