Umbilical cord from the offspring. The cord along with the placenta is often eaten by the mother, to provide nourishment and to dispose of tissues that would otherwise attract scavengers or predators. In chimpanzees, the mother leaves the cord in place and nurses her young with the cord and placenta attached until the cord dries out and separates naturally, within a day of birth, at which time the cord is discarded. (This was first documented by zoologists in the wild in 1974.) Some species of shark — hammerheads, requiems and smooth-hounds — are viviparous and have an umbilical cord attached to their
Studies of the Fetus in the Womb imbricato" ("Ask Biagino Crivelli's wife how the capon rears and hatches the eggs of hens when he is unplucked"). Da Vinci theorized that the umbilical cord was responsible for taking the fetus’ urine outside of the uterus. The studies were initially bequeathed to Francesco Melzi. In c. 1582–90 they were bought from his heirs by Pompeo Leoni and by 1630 they belonged to Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. Since 1690 the studies have been housed in the Royal Collection, United Kingdom. Studies of the Fetus in the Womb Studies of the Fetus in the Womb are two colored annotated