I thought that this might be something for lacnet. Last night my highly
educated husband (but not in biology!) asked me what a mammal in Dutch was.
So I told him (zoogdier). He then asked me why they are called this. So I
told him - placenta / mammry glands and milk. Then he said - so a premature
baby who gets fed ABM and not breastmilk is not a mammal then?
I'm not sure why he limited his thoughts to premature babies, but I did
point out that this could also be said of full term babies. At this point
the conversation got really weird. One question I couldn't answer him was
how on earth whales and dolphins manage to feed their young under water?
He's convinced they do it 'above' water! I know they do it under water, but
he still wants to know how. He thinks that it must be really difficult not
to swollow too much water. I'm not sure exactly how they do it, but they
must produce a very good water tight latch. Of course the best answer is
that they do, and have done for a long time!

Any body else wondered about the mechanis of how whales and dolphns feed
their own?

Sara Bernard (biologist, married to someone who's knowledge of biology is
limited to where babies comes from - luckily).

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