antifeedant

biochemistry

Also known as: deterrent, feeding deterrent

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chemoreception

In chemoreception: Phagostimulation
Although most secondary compounds are deterrent to the vast majority of species, there are some cases in which these compounds act as essential sign stimuli for an animal, indicating that it has the correct food. This is true for many insects that are oligophagous or monophagous on plants that contain…
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In chemoreception: Deterrents and repellents
Many secondary compounds have low volatility and usually serve to reduce or completely inhibit feeding by most plant-feeding insects. Secondary compounds only affect an animal when it makes contact with the plant, which generally occurs when the animal bites into the plant.…
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In chemoreception: Defensive tastes
These compounds are highly deterrent to ants and mammals. However, it should be noted that not all nonvolatile defensive chemicals are detected by the animals that encounter these plants and animals, and, if the chemicals are toxic, avoidance must depend on learning to associate illness with the flavor of…
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In chemoreception: Early experience
…a reduced sensitivity to mild deterrents in the experienced host and an enhanced sensitivity to the plant-specific phagostimulants.
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In chemoreception: Altering pest behavior
…been genetically engineered to produce deterrent substances (see genetically modified organism).
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In chemoreception: Finding and recognizing food
…astringent to humans, are commonly deterrent to herbivores, and plants with alkaloids, which are often bitter to humans, tend to be rejected by herbivores. The tassel-eared squirrel, which hoards twigs of ponderosa pines for winter food, prefers to collect twigs low in α-pinene (a monoterpene). There are many such individual…
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suckling

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suckling

feeding behavior

Also known as: breast-feeding, nursing

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: May 8, 2025 • Article History

Related Topics:: feeding behaviour; lactation; mammary gland; wet-nursing; weaning

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suckling, in mammals, the drawing of milk into the mouth from the nipple or teat of a mammary gland (i.e., breast or udder). In humans, suckling is also referred to as nursing or breastfeeding. Suckling is the method by which newborn mammals are nourished.

Suckling may last only 10–12 days, as in some rodents, or up to two years, as in the walrus. Milk composition may alter during the growth period, relative to the changing nutritional needs of the developing young. The underwater suckling of whales is accomplished by means of special muscles surrounding the teat. When the calf touches the nipple, these muscles contract, squirting a jet of milk into its mouth.

breast-feedingA mother breast-feeding her newborn baby girl, holding her in a sling.

The word suckling also denotes an animal that has not yet been weaned. Weaning is the withdrawal of access to milk; this process gradually accustoms the young to accepting an adult diet. A mother animal frequently weans her offspring by responding with aggression when the young try to approach her. When the stimulus provided by suckling is withdrawn, lactation (milk production) ceases.