Baby Whales Drink Milk

Baby Whales Drink Milk

Whales are huge ses animals. They live in theocean the way fish do. A whale's enormous body isshaped like a fish. But it is not a fish. It is a mammal.

Humans are mammals. Cats, dogs, horses, and pigs aremammals too. They all feed their babies milkthat comes from their bodies. Whales are mammals. Whalebabies drink milk too.

Whales are very different from fish. Most fishhatch from eggs. But almost all mammals are bornalive. A baby whale is born out of its mother's body. It is called a calf.

A humpback whale calf grows in its mother'sbody for almost a year. All summer this motherwhale swam in the cold waters of the northernPacific Ocean while her baby grew inside her body. At the end of the summer the cold water beganto freeze. So the whales swam south to the warmerocean. The warm water is a perfect place for anewborn baby whale.

Whales are gigantic at birth. This calf wasfourteen feet long when it was born-about thesize of a canoe. The mother pushed her new baby gently to thewater's surface. It quickly filled its lungs with air. Its mother needs fresh air too. Humpback whales have two breathing holes at thetop of their heads. They are called blowholes. Thewhales breathe through these holes the way webreathe through our noses.