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Here's the first ever footage of a baby sperm whale nursing from its mother

How baby sperm whales nurse has been a scientific mystery for decades.

National Geographic/YouTube

We know that mammals feed their young with milk from their own bodies, and we know that whales are mammals. But the logistics of how some whales make breastfeeding happen has been a bit of a mystery for scientists. Such has been the case with sperm whales.

Sperm whales are uniquely shaped, with humongous, block-shaped heads that house the largest brains in the animal world. Like other cetaceans, sperm whale babies rely on their mother's milk for sustenance in their first year or two. And also like other cetaceans, a sperm whale mama's nipple is inverted—it doesn't stick out from her body like many mammals, but rather is hidden inside a mammary slit.

Most whale and dolphin babies nudge the mammary slit to expose the nipple, allowing them to "suckle." A sperm whale baby's head and mouth aren't really designed for suckling in the traditional sense, obviously, as its massive nose protrudes over its much smaller lower jaw. But even in the whale sense of mom shooting milk into a baby's mouth, it's been unclear how it works for sperm whales due to their oddly shaped heads. Photos and observations have led researchers to believe that the mother whale expresses milk into the water for the baby to ingests outside of her body, but the real mechanics haven't been clearly understood.

With the proliferation of underwater photography and filmography, it may seem strange that we don't have more nursing whale evidence to examine, but because baby whales can't breathe and nurse at the same time, nursing events are usually quite short. Even being in the right place at the right time to observe a whale nursing is rare, much less capturing it on film.

A four-part documentary series from National Geographic has provided, for the first time, film footage of a sperm whale baby nursing. It shows how the baby actually inserting its lower jaw into the mother's mammary slit, and the milk—which contains ten times more fat than human milk and is the consistency of yogurt—shooting directly into the baby whale's mouth.

Sperm Whale Suckles | National Geographicwww.youtube.com

The documentary series containing this footage, "Secrets of the Whales," was conceived of by National Geographic Explorer and photographer Brian Skerry and follows the stories of five different whale species—narwhals, humpbacks, belugas, sperm whales, and orcas. It was filmed in 24 locations around the world and took three years to make. Produced by award-winning filmmaker and conservationist James Cameron (of "Titanic" and "Avatar" fame) and narrated by award-winning actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver, the series is sure to please whale lovers and nature lovers alike.

In addition to sperm whale babies breastfeeding, the docuseries shows how beluga whales name themselves so groups can keep track of each other, how baby belugas share their moms' call signs, how 30,000 humpbacks travel together from Australia to Antarctica and use breeches to talk to each other, and how a beluga pod adopted a narwhal into their bod—apparently the first ever cross-species adoption ever recorded.

Executive Producer James Cameron called the series a "challenging, daunting project" in a SXSW Conference panel last month."It's also so important for people to understand and for this film to illuminate how these creatures think, how they feel, what their emotion is like, what their society is like," he said, "because we won't protect what we don't love."

The series premiers on streaming service Disney+ on Earth Day, April 22.

Secrets of the Whales | Official Trailer | Disney+www.youtube.com

The filmmakers hope that by sharing with people the unique identities of the whales they followed, they can inspire people to think about how these magnificent mammals can be better protected.

"It's inescapable that they're being poisoned by us, that they're being deafened by us, or their behaviors, all of their feeding strategies and mating strategies and reproductive strategies are being dismantled by all of this noise from shipping channels and military sonars and all that," Cameron said. "They're going to continue to decline. The right whales are down to about 300…We barely understand these animals, so I think we have to, as a society, we have to think about doing it better."

Indeed we do.


This article originally appeared four years ago.

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Dolphins at a popular tourist spot are bringing gifts to presumably entice humans to return

A pod of dolphins in Queensland, Australia have been bringing gifts from the depths of the sea, presumably to encourage their human friends to return to the shore.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pod interacted with humans every day at Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay, north of the Sunshine Coast. The cafe and nature center has a feeding program where people interact with the wild pod every morning.

But the humans are nowhere to be found since the pandemic shut down the cafe.

"The pod has been bringing us regular gifts, showing us how much they're missing the public interaction and attention," the safe posted on Facebook. "They are definitely missing you all."

via via Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay / Facebook


via Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay / Facebook

The dolphins aren't just presenting any old shell. The "gifts" are all colorful, ornate items from the ocean floor, sea sponges, barnacle-encrusted bottles and pieces of coral.

A Barnacles volunteer told a reporter from ABC that the dolphins have brought gist before but not nearly as often as they are during lockdown.

"Nothing surprises me with dolphins and their behavior anymore," Barry McGovern, an expert in dolphin behavior, told ABC. "They do everything — they use tools, they have culture, they have something similar to names in signature whistles," he continued.

Although he isn't completely sure the dolphins are bringing up treasures because they miss people. "In all likelihood, they probably don't miss humans per se," he said. "They probably miss a free meal and the routine."

via via Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding at Tin Can Bay / Facebook

"They often play with bits of weed and coral and all sorts of things and just leave it on their rostrum (nose)," he said. "They're used to getting fed now, so they're used to humans coming in."

There are nine dolphins in the humpback pod that visits Barnacles, Patch, Ella, Squirt, Harmony, Aussie, Valentine, Chompy, White Fin and Mystique, the alpha male. They usually stop by the shoreline near the cafe at around 8 a.m. for a bite of fish and then swim out to see the sea for the day.

This isn't the first time Australian dolphins have engaged in a bit of inter-species gift-giving either. A 2012 report from the journal Anthrozoös found that dolphins sometimes hand over over gifts to wading humans in Tangalooma.

The researchers called it "an established but infrequent part of the culture of the provisioned dolphins." The dolphins were observed handing over dead eels, tuna, squid and an octopus on two frozen occasions.

The dolphins frequently received food from beachgoers, so the gifts could be seen as a form of reciprocity for the food. Researchers also speculate that the dolphins may be sharing their bounty with humans because they are concerned about their ability to hunt.

Regardless of the dolphins' reasoning, the biggest gift may be that they consider us similar to themselves, which is truly beautiful.

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Glowing dolphins off the coast of California this week are almost too magical to believe

Newport Coastal Adventures/Facebook

It may look like a scene from an aquatic version of Avatar, but it's 100% real. In surreal footage taken this week off the coast of Newport Beach, dolphins glow bright blue as they swim through the nighttime waters of the Pacific—a natural bioluminescence phenomenon that never fails to amaze.

The dolphins themselves aren't glowing. Rather, tiny bioluminescent phytoplankton light up the water around them when they are disturbed—hence the blue water in the boat's wake as well. But the effect is totally magical.

Bioluminescence is caused by an algae bloom, commonly referred to as red ride. The glowing waters are a fairly rare phenomenon in Southern California, and Newport Coastal Adventures says the bioluminescence they're seeing right now is the highest its been in years.

What a stunning reminder of just how unbelievably beautiful our world can be.


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Joe Rogan called out SeaWorld’s treatment of dolphins and whales and he makes a great point.

The 2013 documentary "Blackfish" shined a light on the cruelty that orcas face in captivity and created a sea change in the public's perception of SeaWorld and other marine life parks.

This "Blackfish" backlash nearly deep-sixed SeaWorld and led Canada to pass a law that bans oceanariums from breeding whales and dolphins or holding them in captivity. Animals currently being held in Canada's marine parks are allowed to remain as well as those taken in for rehabilitation.

Podcaster and MMA announcer Joe Rogan saluted Canada's decision on a recent episode.

"First of all, what assholes are we that we have those goddman things in captivity? A big fucking shout out to Canada because Canada, mostly probably through the noise that my friend Phil Demers has created in trying to get MarineLand shut down, Canada has banned all dolphin and all whale captivity. It's amazing. I hope the United States does it well, I hope it goes worldwide," Rogan told his guest, economist and mathematician Eric Weinstein.

Rogan has been a big anti-captivity advocate and frequently has Phil Demers, a former walrus trainer at MarineLand in Canada, on his show to discuss animal abuses at marine parks.

12-year-old makes and donates bow ties to help shelter animals find their forever homes.

"I think it's slavery, I really do," Rogan said of whale captivity. "I think it's a different kind of slavery."

While some may be taken aback by Rogan's use of the term "slavery" to describe non-humans, he makes a compelling point. There is a long history of research on dolphins that shows they rival humans, intelligence-wise. As for orcas, "If anything, since orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family, their intelligence is perhaps superior to other dolphins," Lori Marino, a Emory University neuroscientist, told NBC News.

And, like slaves, they are held captive and forced to work for someone making a considerable profit.

Two orcas that have been enslaved the longest are Lolita and Corky, both in captivity for around 50 years.

Lolita is a female orca at Miami Seaquarium who lives in a tank so pitifully small, it would now be deemed illegal. She's been held in captivity since 1970 when she shared the tank with Hugo, a male orca. Hugo died in 1980 in an apparent suicide after bashing his head against the walls of the tank.

It's save the vaquita week. What you should know about the world's most adorable and endangered porpoise.

via Piotr Domanradski / Wikimedia Commons Hugo's carcass being removed from the tank in 1980.

Corky was first captured and put on display at Marineland in California in 1969. Shortly before that park's closure in 1987, she was sold to SeaWorld and has lived there ever since.

Throughout her time in confinement, Corky gave birth to six calves, all sired by her cousin and tankmate, Orky. None of them survived. Orky died in 1988.

via Bryce Bradford / Flickr


The Great Whales - Corky's First Calfwww.youtube.com

Rogan hopes the U.S. will wise up and put an end to whale and dolphin captivity, but will it ever happen?

In 2016, the state of California banned orca shows for entertainment purposes and breeding of captive orcas. Since, SeaWorld San Diego's shows have become more educational in nature.

In 2015, California Congressman Adam Schiff proposed legislation that would prohibit breeding of captive orcas and prevent wild capture for the purpose of display. The act would ultimately phase out all orca captivity in the U.S. but has not seen much movement through Congress since its introduction.

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