Can Humans Drink Whale Milk?

A person could swallow whale milk without being poisoned by a single taste, since it is built from the same basic ingredients as other milks. But it is so unlike the milk in your fridge that it barely counts as a drink. The real obstacles are what the ocean puts into it and the near-impossibility of getting any from a wild whale. The very things that make it strange to us are what make it ideal for a newborn whale facing cold water.

What Would Happen If You Drank Whale Milk

Whale milk contains the same basic parts as other milks: water, fat, protein, sugar and minerals.1The Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute. Composition of Fin Whale Milk They just come in extreme amounts. In fin whale milk, about a third of the weight is fat and only about half is water.2The Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute. Composition of Fin Whale Milk

A small sip wouldn’t be expected to do real harm, but your stomach would complain. Fat leaves the stomach slowly, so a big swallow of something this rich would sit heavily, and you’d feel full and queasy well before finishing a glass. Rich fat can cause nausea, cramping or loose stools, and whale milk would likely do the same.

Pollutants are the more serious concern. Whales and dolphins store long-lasting pollutants such as PCBs and the pesticide DDT in their blubber, and pass them into their milk.3NOAA. Persistent Pollutants from Mother’s Milk Turn Dolphin Calves More Toxic Than Mom As a result, dolphin calves can end up with higher levels of these toxins than their mothers.4NOAA. Persistent Pollutants from Mother’s Milk Turn Dolphin Calves More Toxic Than Mom In a study of three dolphin calves, two had PCB levels known to cause health problems in other animals.5NOAA. Persistent Pollutants from Mother’s Milk Turn Dolphin Calves More Toxic Than Mom

These chemicals build up in milk because they dissolve in fat rather than water. They settle into fatty tissue instead of being flushed out in urine. Whales are long-lived predators near the top of the food chain, so each fish or squid they eat adds a little more, and the load grows over many years. Making milk that is up to half fat means the mother pulls fat from her stores, and the stored chemicals travel out with it.

Most of these pollutants move from mother to calf during nursing, not in the womb, especially in the first few months after birth.6NFWF. Killer Whale Cow and Calf Pollutant Transfer Study That means early milk, and milk from a mother’s first calf, tends to be the most contaminated.7NFWF. Killer Whale Cow and Calf Pollutant Transfer Study8NOAA. Persistent Pollutants from Mother’s Milk Turn Dolphin Calves More Toxic Than Mom

How Whale Milk Compares With Cow and Human Milk

Nearly all of those calories come from fat, not sugar, which is the opposite of how human milk gets much of its energy.

Not all whales make the same milk. Toothed whales and dolphins make thinner milk, about 10 to 30% fat and 60 to 77% water.17PubMed. Lactation in whales and dolphins: evidence of divergence between baleen- and toothed-species Baleen whales nurse for a short time with huge amounts of very rich milk, while toothed whales nurse longer on leaner milk.18SPLASH! milk science update. SPLASH!® milk science update July 2016 Issue Dolphin milk fat is mostly the same kinds of fats found in their local fish prey.19New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. Milk compositions and fatty acid profiles in two coastal odontocete species from the southwest Atlantic Ocean

Published figures differ from source to source. Fat content shifts with the species and with how far along the calf is in nursing, so a single number can’t be exact. Many samples came from dead whales or sat in storage for long periods, which can change the milk and skew what the lab finds.

The sugar level is itself uncertain. Early tests of stored fin whale milk found almost no lactose, but the researchers thought some had broken down while the samples sat.20Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute. Composition of Fin Whale Milk Right whale calves have only weak ability to digest milk sugar, the same as other animals whose milk is low in it.21Marine Mammal Science. Intestinal lactase activity in southern right whale calves (Eubalaena australis)

Why Whale Milk Is So Rich

Mammals with the fattiest milk need their young to grow a thick layer of blubber, the insulating fat under the skin, very quickly against the cold.22La Leche League Canada. Can Humans Drink Whale Milk? Blue whale milk is about 41% fat, and gray seal milk about 60%.23La Leche League Canada. Can Humans Drink Whale Milk? Across mammals, babies that grow faster get milk with more protein and minerals to build their bodies.24The Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute. Composition of Fin Whale Milk

The scale is enormous. A nursing blue whale is estimated to pass on energy close to a million calories a day in her milk.25SPLASH! milk science update. SPLASH!® milk science update July 2016 Issue Baleen whales usually have the richest milk because their calves are weaned earlier and grow faster.26Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like?

Concentrated milk also suits life at sea. Calves have to surface to breathe, so feeds are quick and interrupted, and dense milk lets a mother hand over a great deal of energy in each brief session.

Human babies grow slowly compared with whale calves and need plenty of water and milk sugar to fuel a fast-developing brain. Cow milk is matched to a land calf that can drink often and has no need to build a heavy blubber layer in cold water.

What Whale Milk Looks and Tastes Like

All the fin whale milk samples examined had a very thick, creamy look.27Tokyo Dental and Medical University. Composition of Fin Whale Milk It is often compared to cream cheese or soft butter.28Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like? Colors range from cream and ivory to yellowish, and sometimes light green tints.29Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like? The tested fin whale samples ranged from brownish-yellow cream to milky white.30Tokyo Dental and Medical University. Composition of Fin Whale Milk

Two fin whale samples tasted of cod liver oil, with a somewhat astringent, mouth-drying edge.31Tokyo Dental and Medical University. Composition of Fin Whale Milk A third had a fishy smell and a milder astringency.32Tokyo Dental and Medical University. Composition of Fin Whale Milk The fishy character makes sense, because whale milk fats largely mirror the fish the whales eat.33New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. Milk compositions and fatty acid profiles in two coastal odontocete species from the southwest Atlantic Ocean

Taste reports are rare and limited. The few people who tried it were sampling old, stored milk taken from whaling-era carcasses, not fresh milk from a living animal. Fresh milk might taste milder, but nobody can easily check, since getting any from a wild whale is so difficult.

How Whale Calves Drink Underwater

A female has two nipples tucked into small folds on either side of her genital opening on the belly.34Baleines en direct. Mother-Calf Relationships The nipples normally stay folded in, which keeps the body streamlined.35Nature Scitable. Underwater nursing: how marine mammals feed their babies36Discover Wildlife. How on Earth do whales manage to breastfeed underwater? When the calf nudges them, they come out and milk is ejected into its mouth.37Nature Scitable. Underwater nursing: how marine mammals feed their babies

Whale calves can’t suck the way human babies do.38Baleines en direct. Mother-Calf Relationships A human baby makes a seal with its lips, while a calf holds the nipple with its mouth or wraps its tongue around it.39Nature Scitable. Underwater nursing: how marine mammals feed their babies Fringe-like edges on the calf’s tongue are thought to help seal and channel the milk.40Baleines en direct. Mother-Calf Relationships Exactly how milk is pushed out, by the calf’s tongue or by the mother’s muscles, isn’t fully known.41Discover Wildlife. How on Earth do whales manage to breastfeed underwater? Either way, the exchange is brief and happens while both animals move through the water.

Thick milk helps here. Thin, watery milk would mix into the seawater and be lost before the calf could swallow it, while thick, fatty milk holds together briefly so more reaches the calf’s mouth.

Why Nobody Milks Whales

The glands are hidden and would be almost impossible to stimulate properly by hand.42Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like? Whales are also hard to find and get close to in the open ocean.43Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like? Collecting milk at any scale isn’t practical or cost-effective.44Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like?

The samples that exist came mostly from whales killed in commercial whaling, which is how the old tasting reports came about. Others come from stranded or dead animals, where the milk may have changed by the time anyone collects it. That is why so little is known about fresh milk from healthy wild whales.

Ethics and law close the door further. Most whale species are protected, and in many countries, including the US, harassing whales, which can include getting too close, is illegal. Keeping whales captive to milk them is widely opposed.45Futurismo Azores Adventures. What Does Whale Milk Taste Like? No legitimate product sells it.

Even cheesemaking would be a struggle. It relies on bacteria using milk sugar to sour the milk before an enzyme curdles it.46IFLScience. Can Humans Drink Whale Milk Whale milk’s very low sugar would make standard cheesemaking hard.

What Orphaned Whale and Dolphin Calves Are Fed Instead

When rescuers need to feed a stranded calf, they build a substitute. A well-known dolphin formula used a milk replacer with 55% fat, 20% protein and only a trace of sugar.47VIN. Hand-Rearing Orphaned Cetaceans Rescuers added safflower oil, fish, vitamins, minerals and other ingredients.48VIN. Hand-Rearing Orphaned Cetaceans Porpoise carers blended puppy milk replacer, whipping cream, salmon oil and fish paste.49PubMed Central. The first complete hand-rearing of two neonatal finless porpoises A stranded dolphin calf in Argentina got blended shrimp, fish, fish oil and sugar.50PubMed Central. Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Feeding Schedule of a Franciscana Dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei) Calf Stranded in Argentina

Ordinary cow milk can’t keep a whale or dolphin calf alive because it is too watery and too sugary. Getting a recipe that worked took years of trial and error, with many calves lost along the way.

Calves are often tube-fed because they can’t nurse from a bottle like a land animal.51VIN. Hand-Rearing Orphaned Cetaceans One calf needed feeding six to eight times a day.52VIN. Hand-Rearing Orphaned Cetaceans The first fully successful bottle-fed dolphin was weaned at about one year.53VIN. Hand-Rearing Orphaned Cetaceans

If you come across a stranded calf, don’t try to feed it or push it back out to sea, since a well-meant attempt can harm a weak animal. Keep people and dogs back and avoid touching it, which protects both the animal and you. Call your local marine mammal stranding network or wildlife authority so trained people can respond.