Thanks to the images of photographer Mike Korostelev, we were able to see the intimate moment when a baby whale feeds from its mother, who expels its milk into the ocean. Did you ever imagine it would be like this?
The power of motherhood is found in all species, and in all of them we can admire the ways in which they take care of their young, especially when it comes to breastfeeding, an act of pure love that is experienced differently by each living being.
In this case, a photographer managed to capture the incredible images of a huge sperm whale feeding its calf underwater and although we are talking about a natural and very common process, few imagined that this was the way a whale calf was fed.
Photographer Mike Korostelev, 38, from Moscow, was in the Indian Ocean when he captured the special encounter with the whales, where you can appreciate the particular way in which this mother whale nursed her calf in the water.
As you can see in the images, the baby whale approaches the mother who expels the milk to the outside and you can see how it “floats” in the water while the baby manages to suckle its food.
The photographer, faced with such a spectacle commented that “it was a great honor for me to be there and so close to that intimate moment in the lives of the whales”.
Sperm whale mothers have their nipples inverted, so when the calf is ready to feed, they dive under their mother and push the mammary glands.
Once stimulated by the calf, the mother’s nipples come out and the milk is released into the water. The baby then feeds on the milk directly from the water, i.e. it does not nurse directly from the whale but takes the milk from the water.
In addition, researchers suggest that sperm whales, in particular, feed on milk in this way because their mouths are not shaped conveniently to withstand suction, so they naturally choose to drink the milk suspended in the water.
All species have different ways of breastfeeding and they are all equally special.