Tina Composano, age 10, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, for her question:
How do whales feed their young?
The great whales, as we know, live in the oceans and take deep sea dives that last from 15 minutes to an hour. We also know that the magnificent giants are air¬ breathing mammals who bear live babies that must be fed on mother's milk. The baby whale is born at sea and needs his first breath within a few moments of his birth. This, you would think, creates an impossible problem. But whales are among the most intelligent of the intelligent mammals. So naturally the whales solved their child care problems ages ago.
The whale family includes two types of giants and a variety of smallish dolphins and porpoises. All of them, we are told, descended from ancestors who lived on the land when the earth was much younger. All of them bear their air breathing babies in the water and also feed them on mother's milk in the water. The giant toothed whales and the even bigger baleen whales bear one enormous infant at a time.. The toothy male sperm whale is 60 feet long; the female is only about 30 feet. Her infant calf is 14 feet long and weighs more than a ton.
The female blue baleen whale may be 100 feet long and weigh 100 tons. She carries her unborn infant for a year. At birth this giant baby is about 24 feet long and weighs about four tons. He too feeds on mother's milk for his first six months. Both the sperm and baleen mothers serve their babies from two faucets on the undersides of their bodies, near the tail end. The milk collects in reservoirs above this area, but the faucets are not made to be sucked. A whale mother tenderly nudges her baby into the right position. Then she uses her muscles to pump milk into his hungry mouth. This method solves a major problem, for sucking under water is a difficult, gasping operation.
The giant whales are tender, loving parents. And they also enjoy the company of their kinfolk. In the past, they enjoyed life in their vast oceans, traveling together in large groups. This gave the aunties and other relatives a chance to enjoy sharing the duties of child care. A mother could leave her young infant in trustworthy care while she dived below for her own food.
Meantime, the valuable sperm whale and the gentle giant baleen were hunted by mankind for their oil and blubber. Modern equipment made this cruel slaughter all too easy and now the great whales are listed among the earth's endangered creatures.
They are herd animals and their herds are now pitifully small. This is hard on the adults who enjoy each other's company. It is even harder on the infants and children, who need aunties and other relatives to baby sit while their mothers dive for food.
A baby whale's first breath is even more tricky than his formula. As the time of birth approaches, his mother comes to the surface, turning her huge body to help him to emerge. Then she gets below him and quickly nuzzles her darling up to the surface where he gasps his first breath of air. After that comes the first meal ¬then a year or more of concentrated training in the skills of whalecraft.