No other mammal drinks milk past infancy or drinks the milk of another species.

This factoid (which tends to be employed as some sort of zinger or "ah hah!") always sort of irritates me. Shall I give you a list of things that we do that no other mammal does? Even if it was just a matter of how we eat I could type that list all day.

I am like the opposite of you all. I use half anf half instead of milk. I hate skim milk in my coffee, and only use milk in cooking, not on cereal, so I just buy a quart of half and half and go on my merry way. My cream sauces are very good!

Nicole, I couldn't because they close at noon and I did'n't wake up until almost 11:30. I have already told my boss I am coming in late in Tuesday though, since that is when I will do stuff I couldn't today.

You have me curious now though.

This factoid always sort of irritates me. Shall I give you a list of things that we do that no other mammal does?

Yes, please do. I find evolutionary biology fascinating.

Skim milk in coffee is a crime. It makes this awful grey color. It does nothing flavor-wise.

If you're drinking a ton of coffee the fat could be a factor, but if you're drinking one or two cups a day just make it taste good, foo. Same with sugar - unless you've got a specific blood-sugar or mass-consumption situation going on, toss in those thirty-two calories of sucrose goodness.

I've always wondered. Why is honey awesome in tea but hellacious in coffee?

Yes, please do. I find evolutionary biology fascinating.

We cook food? We grind it up and mix it with other foods and make complex foods? We ferment it. We (and squirrles and a few other little rodents) store it. We refrigerate it. We grow it. Little things like that, surely you can come up with some others.

Why pick just one, "Ah hah! No other mammals are eating MILK past infancy or the milk of another species. THAT is soooooooo UNNATURAL!!!!!"

Skim milk in coffee is a crime. It makes this awful grey color. It does nothing flavor-wise.

This. I'm with Trudy and Sophia. Gimme my half and half for my coffee. Hell, if I'm feeling indulgent, I put in heavy cream. Gives it a little bit of an extra sweet kick. I don't overindulge in dairy, amount-wise, so I feel no need to punish myself and I'm sorry, milk should not be blue and transparent, dammit.

We ferment it.

One of my personal favorites.

I normally drink coffee black, but if I am in the mood for a treat I add heavy cream, because yummy.

Aren't there ants that keep aphids and they stroke them to get some sort of excretion to eat? Fish that eat the skin flaking off of whales? Bacteria in my gut eating the milk I've eaten as it goes on through...

I'd argue that humans drinking milk is the same sort of parasitic behavior that goes on all over the natural world. I am unimpressed by any uniqueness here.

"Ah hah! No other mammals are eating MILK past infancy or the milk of another species. THAT is soooooooo UNNATURAL!!!!!"

Please don't put words in my mouth.

I think evolutionary biology is interesting. The fact that some humans have a genetic mutation that allows them to continue producing lactase into adulthood is an interesting bit of biological trivia to me - I'm not attaching any moral weight to it.