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How are animals' umbilical cords cut?

newborn-baby.jpgQuestion

When a baby is born, the umbilical cord is cut and tied. But when a lamb, calf or puppy is born, that obviously doesn’t happen. Is it born without an umbilical cord, or it is detached automatically?
Derek, Longfield

Answer

** Definitive **
Name: Heather, Edgware
Qualification: Ex-veterinary nurse
Answer: Animals do indeed have umbilical cords. When they are born, the mother usually chews through them or they shred away on their own. Then it just dries up and falls off. It’s possible that we could treat human births in the same way – and the probably do in far-flung places still.

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