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Evidence that sperm whale ( Physeter macrocephalus ) calves suckle through their mouth
Author(s) -
Johnson G.,
Frantzis A.,
Johnson C.,
Alexiadou V.,
Ridgway S.,
Madsen P. T.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
marine mammal science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.723
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1748-7692
pISSN - 0824-0469
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00385.x
Subject(s) - sperm whale , cetacea , biology , whale , sperm , zoology , fishery , biochemistry , botany , myoglobin
All mammals feed their young through lactation, and have evolved a secondary palate to allow for simultaneous nursing and breathing (Clutton-Brock 1991).While evolving a suite of secondary adaptations to a life in water, cetaceans have maintained nursing through the voluntary ejection of milk into the mouth of the calf, which dives beneath the mother to suckle (Fig. 1). So despite some changes in the volume per energy ratio of the ingested milk and shorter suckling times compared to other mammals due to limited breath-holding capabilities of young calves (Ridgway et al.