Why do men have nipples?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I'm posting this here, because although it has some actual science, it's mostly an observational and humorous essay.

Enjoy.

http://www.salon.com/health/feature/1999/06/08/nipples

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Of course, the principal reason for the nipple's enduring popularity is its function as a food delivery device. Ask any baby. Ask any father who has held his child in his arms and suddenly had said infant jerk its head to the side and latch optimistically onto a nipple. After a moment, the baby gives the father the reproachful look of an innocent child betrayed: You're no fun!

Said event just happened to me yesterday with my one year old niece.

I felt so... violated... 

[stellinacadente]

Of course, the principal reason for the nipple's enduring popularity is its function as a food delivery device. Ask any baby. Ask any father who has held his child in his arms and suddenly had said infant jerk its head to the side and latch optimistically onto a nipple. After a moment, the baby gives the father the reproachful look of an innocent child betrayed: You're no fun!

Said event just happened to me yesterday with my one year old niece.

I felt so... violated... 

Zono being on the other side of the fence allow me...

[Swatopluk]

From what I read many years ago there is at least one species of bats that has lactating males.

[Sibling DavidH]

nipple
1538, nyppell, alt. of neble, probably dim. of O.E. neb "bill, beak, snout" (see neb), hence, lit. "a small projection."

I had always thought that men can sometimes lactate, even enough to feed a baby.

Male lactation was first noted by the German explorer Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt in 1858. In his diaries of that year, he wrote of a 32 year old man in northern Burma who breastfed his child for five months in the absence of a mother or wet nurse. Also in 1858, David Livingstone published reports of the same phenomenon in the Scottish highlands. Recently, in 1982, a 55 year old man in Baltimore, Maryland was noted for being the wet nurse of the children of his mistress. In 2002, an article with photographic evidence appeared in a Zaire newspaper, showing a local man providing breastmilk for his infant son.
There are many anecdotal cases of male lactation beyond these, including several articles in modern health magazines and current health books by men claiming to have mastered the technique.
The milk excreted by males is virtually identical to milk produced by females, with only a few relatively unimportant enzymes missing (Macadam, Compleat Mother, 1986); aside from these missing enzymes, male lactation in all measured species is identical to female lactation.

(Found here.)

[Opsa]

If men didn't have nipples, they wouldn't have any eyes for their tummy-faces.