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Animals & Wildlife

Baby sperm whale filmed feeding for first time, solving long-time scientific mystery

How the elusive mammals nurse with that bulbous head has been a curiosity for decades.

Sperm whale heads don't seem like they'd be conducive to nursing.

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 suckling 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.

sperm whales, ocean, whale behavior, cetaceans, marine biology Sperm whales have a unique head shape. Giphy GIF by Nature on PBS

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.

sperm whale, whale behavior, sperm whale calf, marine biology, wildlife You can see how nursing might be tricky with that mouth.Photo credit: Canva

A four-part documentary series from National Geographic released in 2021 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.

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.

- YouTube youtu.be

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. "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."

- YouTube youtu.be

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.

Animals & Wildlife

Turns out menopause might be an evolutionary trait to ensure the survival of a species

Only a few mammals live beyond child bearing years and human females are one of them.

Menopause might be evolutionary for human survival

Menopause can seem like one of those unfair things that only happen to those born with female reproductive systems. It's just one more thing to add to the list of things that those born of the opposite sex don't have to deal with. Menstrual cycles, hormonal and physical changes through pregnancy, the pain and recovery of childbirth, the pause in your career while caring for an infant, only to hit crescendo with menopause.

All those hormones that helped keep you balanced go careening off a cliff in the endocrine system. The whole process can feel unnecessary for those forced to experience it but there may be a reason menopause exists. Scientists have studied the phenomenon of menopause across different species. Turns out not every female animal goes through the process of shutting down reproductive organs.

For most animals, they reproduce until death, only experiencing menopause if there's something medically wrong or they're kept in captivity. Only three species of mammals live for a significant amount of time post reproductive years, orcas, short-finned pilot whales and humans. This revelation is what spurred "the grandmother hypothesis," which hypothesizes that these female mammal species live longer to ensure survival of the species.

blue and white whales Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Both species of whales as well as humans assist their daughters in caring for their children. This allows the daughter to have more children, furthering the respective species. Yes, even whales help take care of their grandchildren by providing them food, which frees up their mother to reproduce sooner.

The Grandmother Effect, a 2009 study published in the National Library of Medicine shares, "women who remained vigorous beyond their fertile years may have enhanced their reproductive success by providing care for their grandchildren. This care would have enabled their daughters to resume reproduction sooner, endowing them with greater lifetime fertility. Genes of grandmothers possessing such old-age vigor would be more likely to persist in subsequent generations."

Short-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) | Flickr www.flickr.com

There were studies done on chimps as well since they're the closest animal to humans and the results were surprising. The majority of chimpanzees reproduce until death but Ngogo chimps seem to go through menopause around the same age as humans, 50. Ngogo chimps live several years after reproducing but unlike humans and whales, they have no interest in helping raise their grandchildren. In fact, the daughters move away from their mothers once they reach maturity.

Though the study spanned from 1995-2016 to collect accurate data through urine analysis of reproductive hormones, scientists point out that menopause may not naturally occur in Ngogo chimps. While the chimps are technically wild, they live in the Kibale National Park in Uganda. They are not hunted by prey, have an unnatural access to quality foods including more meat. Outside of the national park, nearby chimps don't live beyond 50 while the ones within the park live into their 60s.

woman wearing multicolored blanket hugging the baby Photo by Rahul Vaidya on Unsplash

The Ngogo chimps living an unnaturally long life inside the national park may explain why their familial behavior differs from those of humans and the two whale species. One study outside of the Demographic and hormonal evidence for menopause in wild chimpanzees attempts to debunk the grandmother hypothesis which shows nearly all mammals living beyond child bearing years but other scientists dispute their findings as all the animals studied were living in captivity, which greatly impacts lifespan.

In the 2018 study published in Ecology and Evolution, their study of 52 mammals holds firm that only three live beyond menopause, with humans spending 40-70% of their lives post menopause. So, though the grandmother hypothesis is still just that as scientists continue to look for further evidence, it may just be true. Humans have evolved to experience menopause to help further the species and since women live longer than men on average, it doesn't seem like a far leap. No pressure or anything, grandmas. No pressure at all. Just the survival of the human race, no biggie.

via The Guardian / YouTube

Beluga whales are affectionately known as sea canaries for their song-like vocalizations, and their name is the Russian word for "white."

They are sociable animals that live, hunt, and migrate together in pods, ranging from a few individuals to hundreds of whales. However, they are naturally reticent to interact with humans, although some solitary belugas are known to approach boats.

Once such beluga that's believed to live in Norwegian waters is so comfortable among humans that it played fetch with a rugby ball.


It's believed that the researchers in the video are on a South African vessel known as the Dinah Explorer. The video first appeared on Facebook where the poster was certain the researchers are South Africans celebrating their team's 2019 Rugby World Cup victory.

"Beluga Whale celebrating the Springboks victory somewhere close to the South Pole," Kowen wrote in the caption to the Facebook post. "Spot the Cape Town build Gemini Craft and the South African accents."

Some believe the whale could be the same one that caught the public's attention earlier this year for harassing Norwegian fisherman. The whale was wearing a harness that read "Equipment St. Petersburg" so many thought it was, at some point, trained by the Russian military. The harness has since been removed.

The whale went viral for fetching a phone that was dropped in the water by an eager fan.

"We laid down on the dock to look at it and hopefully get the chance to pat it," Ina Mansika told The Dodo. "I had forgotten to close my jacket pocket and my phone fell in the ocean. We assumed it would be gone forever, until the whale dove back down and came back a few moments later with my phone in its mouth!"

The whale returned the phone, but sadly it was no longer functional after falling into the frigid water.

This article originally appeared on 11.8.19

Connor Ashbridge/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Perucetus Colossus

Last year, scientists in Peru announced they had discovered the world’s heaviest animal. Dubbed Perucetus Colossus or P. Colossus, for short, this ancient whale with a bloated body, small head and small fins, was estimated to tip the scales at a resounding 700,000 pounds. That’s larger than the largest animal up to that point—the Blue Whale—which can weigh up to 540,000 pounds.

The unusual fossils of P. Colossus believed to be nearly 40 million years old, were discovered in a desert in Peru. Whereas bones are normally spongy-looking, these fossils appeared dense and inflated, leading scientists to debate whether these were bones or rocks. It was determined they were, in fact, bones—vertebra bones, to be exact, each of which weighed at least 220 pounds. They also found ribs measuring nearly five feet across. All told, they found 13 vertebrae, four ribs, and part of a hip.


Using projections, it was estimated that this was the heaviest animal ever to have lived.

Headlines abounded, mentioning the size of this silly-looking beast.

skeleton, paleontology, Perucetus Colossus

Projected skeletal image of Perucetus Colossus

Ivan Iofrida/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

However, in late February 2024, scientists changed their tune. It turns out the estimates were off, and this chonky gal was merely big-boned, literally.

The new estimates put P. Colossus at 60 to 70 tons at 17 meters long and 98 to 114 tons at 20 meters long. It is still quite heavy, maxing out at 228,000 pounds, but not nearly as heavy as the blue whale, which maxes out at approximately 540,000 pounds or 270 tons.

Perucetus Colossus, Blue Whale, prehistoric fossils

P. Colossus as compared to a blue whale and a human

Cullen Townsend/Cullen Townsend (used with permission)

So what happened? Here’s some sciency language from the new study, “Downsizing a heavyweight: factors and methods that revise weight estimates of the giant fossil whale Perucetus Colossus."

“[The scientists who said P. Colossus was the heaviest animal] based their estimates on a new method, in which they first estimated the total skeletal mass of Perucetus through extrapolation from the skeletal material and then used the value to secondarily extrapolate its body mass, assuming skeletal to body mass ratios based on extant cetaceans and sirenians. A simple ratio mandates an isometric relationship between body and skeletal masses, and they justified this step by testing for isometry using a phylogenetically controlled regression.”

Ah yes, how many times a phylogenetically controlled regression has come around to bite us on the butt.

Translation: It’s understandable, sort of, why they used the wrong equation, but make no mistake—they used the wrong equation. And now, some science shade from the same paper:

“Their method involves questionable assumptions that suggest their body mass estimates are not reasonable…”

“It is important to note that the overall size estimate of Perucetus has remained the same,” Cullen Townsend told Upworthy. Townsend is an artist who renders prehistoric animals for the Natural History Museum Los Angeles, among others, and who created a corrected rendering to accompany the new paper.

Says Townsend: “What is now being debated is how heavy the animal potentially was. Our understanding of prehistoric animals is filled with holes and can change drastically with a new discovery or research. It is not surprising that scientists are coming to new conclusions. Our depictions of nearly every prehistoric animal have changed over time to better correspond with advancements in paleontology and our interpretation of the fossil record. Our current understanding of Perucetus is no different and will likely change again in the not-too-distant future. It is the nature of this field.”

So no "Real Scientists" reality show coming to cable TV anytime soon?

Or "Biggest Loser, Animal Style"? (P. Colossus wins, obviously)

The NatureWasMetal Reddit group saw this coming:

“Of course, Perucetus was going to be downsized… I’m never going to trust this sort of claim again, I felt like it couldn’t be true,” said Kaam00s.

“All my hopes and dreams shattered… I lived for that chonky whale man,” said Grouper3.

But Time-Accident3809 pointed out the silver lining:

“We are so lucky to coexist with the largest known animal to have ever lived. Now here’s hoping we don’t [mess] that up as well.”