It would be hazardous to try milking any cetacean in the wild (although scientists have done so with recently deceased specimens). In captivity, though, the animals can be trained to tolerate it. Noren recently conducted a study that required 15 months of regularly milking two killer whale mothers at SeaWorld.

Baby whales, like all young mammals, rely on their mother’s milk for their early development.

Nursing their young with milk is one of the things that defines mammals, so whales definitely do have mammary glands and they do produce milk.

From Wiki: A blue whale’s milk tastes like a mixture of fish, liver, milk of magnesia, and castor oil. It has the consistency of soft butter. ”A blue whale’s milk tastes like a mixture of fish, liver, milk of magnesia, and castor oil. It has the consistency of soft butter.”

If the fat consistency is too low, then the mother’s milk would dissolve in the water, making it difficult for the baby whale to feed and receive adequate nutrients. The fatty milk also provides the baby with lots of nutrients and energy to help the baby grow into a healthy young adult.

It still contains PCBs. They pose a particular challenge to the survival of marine mammals like porpoises, whales, and dolphins. The Europe-based researchers found that PCBs accumulate in the fat tissue of cetaceans and stay with them throughout their lives.

Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) Hooded seal mothers produce the fattiest known milk. Human breastmilk has about three to five percent fat in it. But with more than 60 percent fat, hooded seal milk would rival some of the richest Häagen-Dazs ice creams out there.

donkey milk

I do know some folks who really are milking manatees, and doing quite well. Only instead of milk the Save the Manatee Club’s squeezing money, and lots of it, from Florida’s sea cows. As with China’s pandas, manatees make enticing poster children.

Not known to harm anything, they spend their days diving to dine on sea grasses and fresh water vegetation. But humans harm them with watercraft collisions and boat propellers that slice their skin. Mortality is so common that the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a phone line to report dead manatees.

Manatee tastes like pork (but we wouldn’t know!)

Each manatee eats the same amount of food: romaine lettuce, cabbage, carrots, and grapes.

Manatees have fart-storage pouches, because farts are so vital to their buoyancy “that constipated individuals cannot swim properly.”

Remind students that manatees have to eat a lot of food every day. Generally, manatees will eat one tenth (1/10) of their body weight in plants every day. So, a manatee that weighs 1,000 pounds will have to eat 100 pounds of food each day.

Manatees are calm and peaceful marine mammals that pose no danger to swimmers. In fact, they are curious animals that enjoy human interaction and are quite happy to relate with and be around humans. That’s why it’s quite common for manatees to approach swimmers or divers for a belly rub or close contact.

Even though manatees are gentle creatures, they’re still wild animals, so we should leave them alone. People splashing and yelling might scare them away from the food they need to survive the winter. The manatees in Florida are a threatened species, and they need to be protected.

Swimming with wild manatees is very safe… for you. When it comes to the manatees’ safety, things get more complicated. Manatees’ gentle disposition puts them at great risk from humans. This is one reason that Crystal River is the only place it is legal to swim with manatees in Florida.

According to the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, it is illegal to molest, harass, disturb or—as Waterman found out—hug a manatee. Manatees, however, are quite sensitive, and manatee biologist Thomas Reinert told Reuters that Waterman’s actions could have induced severe stress in the young calf.

Ordinarily, touching a manatee is punishable under the Manatee Sanctuary Act, with a fine of up to $500 and/or a jail term of up to 60 days.

Please call:

1. If you see a manatee with a pink or red wound or with deep cuts.
2. If you see a manatee with grayish-white or white wounds, this likely means the wound has healed.
3. If the manatee is tilting to one side, unable to submerge, seems to have trouble breathing, or is acting strangely.

Though known for having one of the smallest brains, manatees are very intelligent. Even though manatees have the lowest brain-to-body ratio of any marine mammal, a study found that manatees are as adept at experimental tasks as dolphins, one of the smartest animals on the planet.

Sea Cow

A baby manatee is called a calf. The calf will stay close to the mother for one to two years to learn travel routes and the location of food, rest areas and warm water refuges.

Manatees don’t really have any real predators. Sharks or killer whales or alligators or crocodiles could eat them, but since they don’t usually inhabit the same waters, this is pretty rare. Their biggest threat is from humans. And because of this, all manatee species are endangered and threatened.

Going actively after an animal the size of a manatee is tiring and can potentially injure a shark. In spite of their huge size, manatees are graceful and speedy swimmers in the water, making it hard for sharks to prey on them.

Why don’t sharks eat slow-moving manatees? A. Primarily because of the manatee’s large size and slow movements, they don’t fit well into the prey lists for sharks.

So do alligators bother manatees? No, they don’t. Actually, while alligators may bite the satellite tags attached to manatees and occasionally prey on manatee calves, they don’t ordinarily bother manatees. Attacks by alligators are very rare, and boat strikes still remain the prime cause of death among adult manatees.

Lifespan, Mortality, and Population: The Florida manatee has no natural enemies, and it is believed they can live 60 years or more.

Flanagan: So, in review, if you’re attacked by an alligator, run away. If it’s too late, fight back, don’t try to pry open its jaws. Attack the sensitive snout, and gouge the eyes, and definitely do not play dead.

One of the reasons is because of how relaxed the capybara is. They really don’t care what you do around or on them as long as it doesn’t hurt them. That’s why you’ll see monkeys, birds, small mammals and even large predators like crocodiles hanging around them.