Whales are marine mammals; like most mammals, the female whale carries her offspring in her womb.
In almost all cases, the female gives birth to a single offspring every 1 – 6 years.
Gestation periods can vary greatly depending on the whale’s species and can be anywhere from 9 to 18 months long!
Some whale species begin their journey of mating and producing offspring by making large migration trips thousands of miles from their feeding grounds to their mating grounds.
During this voyage, some species will even give up eating and will fast for the entire trip, which could last several months.
Although some whale species migrate, others will only travel short distances from their home throughout their lives.
Once the whales arrive at their mating grounds, the males begin competing for the right to mate with the female.
These competitions can be anything from vocalizing their desire to mate (whale songs) to performing acrobatic feats such as lunging and leaping out of the ocean, slapping their tails and flippers against the water, and charging at other male whales.
After a male establishes his dominance and mates with the female different male whales may continue to challenge one another to try to mate with the same female whale.
It is not uncommon for a female whale to mate with several male whales during a single season, as most species are not monogamous.
When the mating season ends, the whales go back to their feeding grounds, where they restock on food.
During these months, the impregnated female whales go through what’s known as a gestation period (the period from conception to birth) which can last for 9 – 18 months.
After birth, the female whale feeds her young by producing milk which her child then suckles on from her nipple.
In most cases, the milk contains a very high-fat concentration percentage of 35% or higher.
This high-fat concentration causes the milk to come out very thick, which helps to prevent it from separating in the water.
The milk contains nutrients that the baby whale needs to grow healthy.
Suckling may continue anywhere from 6 months to 2 years or more until the child can separate psychologically due to the mother no longer producing milk.
In a family, the female whale is referred to as the cow, the male is called the bull, and the child is known as the calf.