Sperm whales use babysitters for young

[IndianaGreen]

Sperm whales use babysitters for young

Mother sperm whales use organised babysitting sessions so they can go go hunting for food, scientists have discovered.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM BST 13 Jun 2009

For any new mother, finding someone to look after their baby even for few hours can be tough - especially when the youngster weighs around a tone and drinks more than 350 pints of milk a day.

Biologists studying sperm whales in the North Atlantic, however, have found that females share responsibility for the younger members of a pod by establishing networks of carers.

Sperm whales are one of the deepest diving whales on the planet and make dives of more than 2000ft below the ocean's surface lasting up to an hour while they search for the squid they feed on.

The calves, however, cannot make these dives and have to remain at the surface.

This leaves the calves vulnerable to killer whales which often follow pods of sperm whales to prey upon the youngsters.

Scientists at the University of St Andrews, Durham University and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have now discovered the whales use the equivalent of a babysitting pool to ensure mothers can feed without endangering their young.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5521920/Sperm-whales-use-babysitters-for-young.html


A sperm whale calf only hours old, swims next to its mother and a pod of
sperm whales Photo: AP

[BlooInBloo]

1. Heh. Critters that have survived the evolutionary meatgrinder...

typically have developed solutions to typical problems.

[Thothmes]

3. The only problem they could not solve

was being hunted to near extinction by bipedal naked apes.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Are these sperm whales typical babysitters?

Do they spend all night on the phone and then expect $9 an hour for yacking
with their friends?

[MineralMan]

4. Or put the kids to bed and invite their boyfriend over?

Having been the boyfriend in that equation way back in the 60s, I can vouch for the prevalence of the practice.