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
Umbilical cord long as there is the ability to treat the small risk of jaundice if it occurs. Clamping is followed by cutting of the cord, which is painless due to the absence of nerves. The cord is extremely tough, like thick sinew, and so cutting it requires a suitably sharp instrument. While umbilical severance may be delayed until after the cord has stopped pulsing (5–20 minutes after birth), there is ordinarily no significant loss of either venous or arterial blood while cutting the cord. Current evidence neither supports, nor refutes, delayed cutting of the cord, according to the American Congress of