A good riposte. ![]()
But the pedant in me demands to say that it is not milk, though. From the article:
This species is unique because it gives birth to live offspring. Members make "milk” in the form of protein crystals to serve as food for their developing young
That’s “milk” in inverted commas.
harvesting this milk-like substance is currently a labor-intensive process.
… milk-like
harvesting the crystals from its midgut
Not a breast or udder or teat or any other term or euphemism… but from its gut. (Which is not “lactating” as the article refers to it.)
Also, the whole article had a powerful whiff of ChatGPT. Which is not to say it is wrong, but the style was … off.
This human would have taken care not to talk about cockroach “milk” being lactose free, detailing how the substance is harvested from the gut of necessarily dead cockroaches, having also talked about needing to kill the cockroach, and embryos, when it begins “lactating”.
I feel a discussion of the etymology and use of “lact-” coming on but that would be a derail too far. ![]()