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
Social uterus Social uterus Social uterus is a developmental concept in family therapy for psychosomatic disorders. Social uterus as an integrative model of family development was invented by Vladislav Chvála and Ludmila Trapková in 1990's. The metaphor of a social uterus was formed by comparing the biological function of the uterus and the maturation of the foetus inside it from conception to childbirth with the changes in the family from the birth of the child up to its separation around the age of 18. The metaphor translates facts well known from the biology of reproduction to the social level. In the "social