Do Whales Have Relationships?

Last night, my brother was reading a book about whales, and came across the concept of how whales migrate to find food or to mate. He asked the babysitter (as he's learned not to mess with me when I'm doing homework) what “mating” meant. The babysitter replied, “It's like when whales find a boyfriend or a girlfriend.” (I think she was trying to avoid explaining that whales mate to make babies.) Now, the book provides the “kiddie” definition for “mate” right there: “MATE: Either a male or female in a pair. Most animals need a mate to have babies.” But apparently, everything is understood more easily when put into everyday-human-life-context, so there you have it. Whales have boyfriends/girlfriends.

Now, I was doing homework upstairs and I heard the babysitter. I was tempted to go and shout that whales don't have boyfriends or girlfriends, but then I was stopped by the thought that maybe whales really do have boyfriends or girlfriends; we just don't know.

And now a break for a disclaimer: (fancy music plays)

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, I didn't research any science while writing this post, and it is probably totally inaccurate. I am sorry.

And back to the post: (fancy music plays and ends with a flourish)

Let's go back to why humans have girlfriends and boyfriends. According to my knowledge (YA books), the answer is love. Love. Ah, love. And as they say, it's love (or cheese) that makes the world go round. But that was in a song written by humans, specifically for young humans of the female gender (a.k.a. Girl Scouts). They would know about love in humans. But is it just humans' love that makes the world go round, or do other animals' love also make the world go round?

This brings us back the question of whether whales have boyfriends or girlfriends, which really is “Do whales feel love (in the romantic sense) towards other whales who are not their children or parents?”

Truthfully?

I don't know.

And I wouldn't care to know.

I mean, I really don't care about other species besides humans. (shocker!) Well, I guess I wouldn't want the polar bears to die out, but if someone had to die, and it was the polar bears or me, I'd choose the polar bears. (Sorry to all those polar bears lovers.) So I don't really care. Plus, as I stated, I'm not some kind of scientist in a position to tell you whether whales can be in romantic relationships. All I can do is sit on the bed and wonder: Do whales have boyfriends or girlfriends? Do whales feel love? Do other animals feel love?

Go on. Invite a whale to the bar for questioning. Have a beer. Or half a cup of apple juice.

It would make kind of a cool story idea.

Do you prefer beer or apple juice?

Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/cetacea/whale_art.gif