When it comes to diet, humans are extremely creative!
Not only have we pioneered a variety of cooking methods, but we are constantly expanding the range of ingredients.
All kinds of animal meat, all kinds of plants, and even some strange and smelly foods, nothing can stop human beings from pursuing food.
As mammals, we are also very persistent about the pursuit of milk, in addition to the common milk, goat milk, camel milk, people are also studying spider milk, cockroach milk. Nowadays, there is also a strong interest in whale milk.
Imaginary whales produce milk
Whale milk, dare not think, but there are indeed foreign sales, a total of three products: fat-reducing whale milk, low-fat whale milk and skim whale milk, the price is a quart (about 1 liter) 25 US dollars.
It is said that these whale milk is collected from beluga whales and is currently only supplied to old customers, and new users cannot buy it even if they have money, and need to register as candidates. Despite this, there are still many people who come here.
So the question is, so there is a market, why is whale milk not mass-produced like milk?
Whale milk
First of all, whale milk is difficult to eat, and it is easy to get fat;
Someone has actually drunk blue whale milk directly, and he describes it like this:
Not watery, but toothpaste-like solid, thin like slightly softened butter, white in color, tastes like a mixture of fish, liver, magnesium oxide emulsion and castor oil, oily and fishy, difficult to swallow!
According to studies, the fat content in the milk of many marine animals is extremely high, and it is not suitable for direct consumption by humans.
Crown seal milk has a fat content of up to 60%, the highest fat content in the world, while whale milk has an average fat content of 42.3%.
In addition to this, whale milk contains 10.9% protein and 2.0% sugar, providing 443 kcal of energy per 100 grams, which is extremely high. In comparison, 100 grams of pure milk has only 134 kcal of energy.
In other words, if the human body directly drinks (should eat) whale milk, it is easy to become fat. Such high-fat foods are only suitable for whale pups, because they grow very fast, like blue whale babies growing at a rate of up to 100 kg/day.
Baby whale milk posture
Second, whale milk is difficult to collect;
It starts with how whales feed underwater.
It is well known that many mammals, including humans, feed their young with external nipples that can be drunk by sucking, while whale nipples are hidden.
Female whales have two symmetrical fissures on the edge of their reproductive openings, which are the whale's mammary glands, and the nipples are hidden inside.
When the baby whale wants to drink milk, it will roll its tongue into a straw or U-shape, close to the breast fissure, and when the fissure is stimulated, the milk will be directly squirted out.
Under normal circumstances, the milk will be sprayed directly into the mouth of the baby whale, in case it is not sprayed accurately, it does not matter, the texture of toothpaste, and the fat content is so high, whale milk is not easy to dissolve in the seawater, the baby whale drinks together with the seawater into the mouth, and then the water can be discharged.
Feeding methods like this, how to simulate the baby whale tongue to stimulate the mother whale to spray milk, how to collect milk in the water, is the biggest problem of mass production!
At present, the institution that will collect whale milk so laboriously is the aquarium, the object of collection is mainly killer whales, sometimes the mother of killer whales will not breastfeed, in order to cope, the aquarium will collect it in case of emergency!
Modern cows are milked
other
In addition to the above two points, there are many problems to be solved to achieve mass production:
For example, how to keep whales in captivity, large size, large food intake, input and output are not cost-effective, and high IQ, long-term captivity is prone to mental illness;
For example, how to efficiently and cost-effectively process whale milk and reduce fat content;
……
At last
Regarding whale milk, I would say that commercial milk production has a more or less negative impact on animals.
Many people have a big misconception about cow milk production, believing that cows are born with milk and can milk milk every day of the year.
Coupled with the slogans of "sunshine pasture" and "happy cow" played by many merchants now, these people think that dairy cows live in "paradise".
One thing to say is that the current pasture is indeed much better than before, the treatment of dairy cows is much higher, and people are beginning to care about the emotional needs of cows in addition to milk production.
But one thing can't be changed: the essence of milk is the food of calves.
This means that if you want to produce milk, you have to get pregnant, and if you want to drink milk, the calf can't drink or can only drink less, then the cow will face separation from the calf;
Moreover, in order to have a high yield, the cow must be pregnant non-stop and seamlessly, only the 2 months before childbirth are rested, and the rest of the time is milked every day.
So, let the whale go, the cow has paid so much for humans, why bother with the whale, human beings are not indispensable!