Whale family structure and its intricacy has been the subject of much scholarship and study on the part of biologists and those people who are just fascinated by these beautiful and extremely intelligent mammals. Their family structures are renowned for the complexity of their arrangement, with the three main components being the bull, the cow and her calf.

Whales are known for their intelligence and sublime behavioral patterns. It should not be a surprise, then, that whales place a great deal of importance on how the family structure is arranged. Known as a pod, typical whale families expect that each individual member will help contribute to the overall success of the pod.

The manner in which whales organize themselves into family units demonstrates their extreme sociability and helps to illustrate how each whale demonstrates a sense of responsibility to every other whale in the family structure. There actually seems to be much evidence of whales demonstrating actual insight, each with something once thought of as being the exclusive province of humans.

Whales will also tend to segregate themselves in a pod according to their age and sex. Cows and calves tend to travel along in pods of up to 30 members, protected and watched over by a dominant bull whale. Those cows in the pod that do not have calves of their own to watch over will act as midwives to cows that are pregnant or nursing after giving birth.

Additionally, cows without their own calves also will act as babysitters for mothers of other camps, especially when those mothers are off feeding or somewhere else. As far as how long calves remain with their mothers, it's not unheard of for them to be by their side for six or more years. In some whale species, that number can be doubled very easily.

When it comes to whale family structure, these pods or societies are very complex and endlessly fascinating. Male bulls watch over their pod while other male whales tend to travel slightly separate from the major pod. It goes almost without saying that this structure makes the whale family among some of the most interesting groupings in the world.

Whale family structure and its intricacy has been the subject of much scholarship and study on the part of biologists and those people who are just fascinated by these beautiful and extremely intelligent mammals. Their family structures are renowned for the complexity of their arrangement, with the three main components being the bull, the cow and her calf.

About the Author
Frankie White has been studying whales for nearly fifty years and is fascinated by the whales family structure.