Whale Nipples

September 24, 2013 8:23 PM

Do whales have nipples? Do they shrink when they get cold? What do they look like? Is there such a thing as a whale milk farm? How would/is that done? Is there a proper technique for milking whales? Seriously. Whale nipples. Wow.
posted by Folk to Pets & Animals (18 answers total)

According to Sea World, yes. A baleen whale "calf suckles from nipples concealed in its mother's abdominal mammary slits. Calves nurse under water, close to the surface."
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:26 PM on September 24, 2013

"Humpback whale gestation takes eleven months. Calves are born at a length of four to five metres and a weight of two tonnes. After birth, the mother will provide nearly 240 litres of milk per day for the calf, feeding the calf for nearly a year. The milk is extremely rich at approximately 40-50% milk fat and the consistency of chewing gum. Humpback whale cows have two mammary slits, and feed on demand by exerting muscular pressure.

By the time the calves are weaned at 11 months, they will have doubled their length to about nine metres. For the first few weeks the cow and calf are rarely more than a few metres apart. The calves are suckled for a further eleven months, during which time they have nearly doubled in length to nine metres."
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:32 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Do whales have nipples?

They. They are placental mammals and nurse their young.

Also, the blowhole is a nose that has migrated to the top of the head.
posted by Tanizaki at 8:44 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book, 'The Deep Range', which describes a near-future whale farming operation in which whale meat and milk is harvested.

Google Books
posted by bq at 8:47 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @bq: thank you. Amazoned, I will be reading that as soon as it arrives.

I wrote a bad question. I mostly want to know about whale farms and why they are not a thing.
posted by Folk at 9:14 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

Whale lips can't create suction, so as calves their tongues have side flaps that curl around the nipple. And apparently the mother pushes out the milk, rather than the calf sucking it out.
Here's some info on whale gestation and a pic of an orca calf feeding; here's another orca nursing pic.
Orphaned whale calves in captivity are fed formula made of ground herring, whipping cream, vitamins, and glucose, among other things; here's a recipe if you want to try some herring-cream of your own.
Here's a whole series of posts showing a whale necropsy (the pics are a bit fleshy if you're squeamish though).
Thanks for asking this question, I was bored and enjoyed looking that up, and now I am oddly excited to read this whole whale anatomy series.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 9:15 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]

Why would whale farms be a thing? There are over 5000 species of placental mammals, and we only milk, what, a dozen of them?

But, some specific reasons: They are really big. They eat a lot. They live in the water. We live on land.
posted by Good Brain at 9:27 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]

I suspect that whale milk is very fishy tasting so I can't imagine much call for it (even if we were to domesticate and farm whales.)
posted by vespabelle at 9:33 PM on September 24, 2013

It has roughly 50% milkfat versus 3 or 4% for cows. Probably makes a helluva butter and/or milkshake.

IIRC, blue whale babies gain about 100 pounds A DAY! drinking the stuff.
posted by FauxScot at 9:39 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Considering the intelligence of many whales, and the fact that they don't tend to do well in captivity, wouldn't whale farming pose major logistical and ethical problems?
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:40 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]

"The milk is extremely rich at approximately 40-50% milk fat and the consistency of chewing gum."

Does that sound tasty to you? Plenty of animals produce milk. Most of the ones whose milk we drink are a) useful for other reasons, like their meat or skin or labor, and b) domesticated, because we've been drinking their milk/keeping them for other purposes for thousands of years.
posted by MadamM at 9:43 PM on September 24, 2013

200 pounds a day. I am getting old and forgetful.
posted by FauxScot at 9:55 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mod note: OP: fine to clarify your question in a followup comment, but no digressions from the main questions or discussion starters please. Sadly, this is not the venue for a debate on the logistics of commercializing whale milk.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 11:32 PM on September 24, 2013 [6 favorites]

I thought I heard that whales had these sort of mammary sacks, that the calf would sort of bite to make the milk sap out of it, like squeezing water out of a wet rag.

I tried to confirm this, and this is what I turned up.

A video of a beluga whale nursing.

This article which states:

To be more hydrodynamic, the mother’s nipples are inverted at the mammary gland until the baby starts to nudge where they then start to point out. The mom then starts to shoot out milk. Whales don’t have lips, so they can’t really suckle the milk. Instead it’s almost injected into the baby’s mouth.

This explanation and picture of how to tell the sex of whales (by the mammary glands). (Also see this picture.)

So, nothing turning up in support of my initial understanding, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't just make something that crazy up. I definitely heard it somewhere... not saying someone else didn't make it up.

As for the milk itself, here are a couple pictures of some whale milk that seems to have spilled.

Oh, and have you seen this?
posted by brenton at 1:14 AM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

When I was living in Japan I visited the Shimonoseki Aquarium, where they have a display of clear plastic containers of milks from different animals to compare. The whale milk was the thickest by far, and I remember it being a rich beige-y cream color. It was really interesting to see in real life.
posted by ialwayscryatendings at 2:52 PM on September 25, 2013

LobsterMitten: "extremely rich at approximately 40-50% milk fat and the consistency of chewing gum"

so, it basically comes out as butter? yum.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 9:29 PM on September 25, 2013

I read in a milk chemistry book that of all placental mammals, blue whales produce milk with the lowest amount of lactose. So there's one reason for dairy whale farming being a thing....
posted by variella at 6:41 PM on November 3, 2013

Response by poster: I read 'The Deep Range' and it was awesome. Thanks everyone for all your input.
posted by Folk at 6:29 AM on November 28, 2013