Whales are mammalian animals that live in the seas and oceans, so, like these, they carry their young indoors of his body during his embryonic development. In many species of whales, due to the difficulty of tracking them, their reproductive biology is unknown, for example, not much information is known about how blue whales reproduce.
On the contrary, the reproduction of other species is known almost perfectly. Do you want to know it? In this article on our site we talk about how whales reproduce, from mating to birth, don't miss it!
The reproduction of the whales
Whales are large aquatic mammals. Males do not reach adulthood and therefore sexual maturity until 7 or 10 years of age. While females are generally more precocious, around 5 or 7 years old.
Female gonads, as in other mammals, are found inside the body of females. The males can externalize them, but when they swim (most of the time), they remain cooped up inside a special cavity they have.
When they reach reproductive age, whales do not reproduce continuously, only during one time of the year, which will depend on the hemisphere where they live. For example, to find out how humpback whales reproduce, we must go to Massachusetts Bay, here, females spend long periods of time with their young since, unlike other species of whales, humpback whales can have2 to 3 calves each time.
Whales mating
Some whales live in family groups, whose young male individuals, at a certain age, leave to meet different individuals and thus reduce the inbreeding. Other species of whales live together in monogender groups, that is, groups of females and groups of males, which meet exclusively to mate.
During the reproductive season the tension increases between all the members of the different groups, it is a decisive moment for the maintenance of the species and they all want to reproduce. At these times, exchanges of males and females may occur between groups, who decide to march by themselves.
Whales courtship is calm, it consists of maintaining a joint swim, with gentle touches and touches. The sounds they produce also seem to vary. They are polygamous animals, so they can have many partners in each breeding season.
Whales gestation time
Whales' gestation times are different depending on the whale species but, generally, the pregnancy lasts more than a year. In certain species, such as southern right whales, the smaller and weaker females have a longer gestation period than their larger and stronger partners.
The gestation period for whales varies between 9 and 16 months, some examples are:
- White whale (Delphinapterus leucas): 14 months
- Greenland whale (Balaena mysticetus): 12 months
- Southern whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis): around 14 months
- Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus): between 10 and 12 months
- Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae): 11 months
- Grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus): between 12 and 13 months
How are whales born?
Like mammals, Whales' fertilization is internal After a gestation period that, as we have seen, varies according to the species, the usually a single calf. Births take place after a long migration to warm waters. This is because calves are born with very little fat, so they are not protected from the frigid temperatures of the oceans.
The young feed on mother's milk during the first months of life, from which they obtain all the nutrients and, above all,, fat. Most pups are weaned at five months of age.
Parental care is very different between toothed and baleen whales. The young of the former spend years with their families, learning to live and creating social bonds. Baleen whale calves, on the other hand, are independent at younger ages
Check out the following video of a humpback whale and her newborn calf in Maui, Hawaii from the Maui Sea to Sky Tours & Activities YouTube channel:
