don't tell iceland

If whales are smart enough to debate that, they probably have cultural memory of almost getting whaled to extinction. Which would make them like us less, but on the other hand, might make them afraid to get us too upset at them

Honestly makes sense

Looking at a dolphins brain is enough to convince me they’ve known what’s up for far longer than we have

Well let's not go crazy here.

So I elected not to look into it, because I doubt that zoos are selling it. Which means it’s likely sourced from whalers

Japan, Iceland, Norway, are all actively fishing commercially (though Japan uses the cover of “scientific” expeditions to justify it.)

Yup.

I’m thinking it either flopped or was never a thing.

I doubt it’s something that could be reliably commercialized.

Plus cow dairy requires constant breeding in order to keep the cows milk supply up. Just like humans, they only produce milk after giving birth and for a limited time.

Breeding cows in captivity is pretty standard fare these days.

I'm not sure whale breeding is an industry that currently exists. Nor is whale sperm harvester. As if milking a female whale is complicated enough.

Well.

I hate to break it to you… but the whales probably aren’t milked more than once.

My guess is it’s sold by whalers.

You spelt disgusting wrong

Whales are mammals, so it probably tastes humany.

You'd be totally wrong.

It's a bit thin and watery, and the taste isn't very strong. But it is slightly sweet.

Source: used to breed pet rats, and mama rats leak sometimes. No reason to not taste it when that happens.

Wasn't yummy, but it wasn't bad either.

And, yes, I'm certain it was milk and not urine.

Hell, our neighborhood had a cat back when I was a kid. Not a stray, but not anyone's cat either. She was super sweet, loved kids, but did not love being in houses. But she did love our back porch for birthing. And she was perfectly fine with any of us handling the kittens, and loved belly rubs while producing milk. So, it was inevitable to end up tasting it if you were an adventurous kid that knew where the milk in the fridge came from because you'd milked cows before.

Most milk tastes roughly the same tbh. We've bred cows and some goats to where they're different, but the taste varies more by diet than animal. Mind you, I haven't gone around sampling everything, but I don't have an artificial mental block about tasting it either, and I've been around a lot of livestock and pets that were lactating over the years.

Fat content is the real, major factor after diet.

Carnivores, or omnivores that eat a lot of meat, tend to be a little "gamy" compared to herbivores. Goats are an exception, but the ones I've had "from the tap" so to speak, were bred for milk, so weren't as gamy as it can get.

Horse milk is pretty funky. Not bad, but I wouldn't pour a glass either.

Trying to think of anything that stood out from the herd, so to speak, but nothing comes to mind beyond that.

Have you ever met the kind of people that keep rats as pets? I'm gonna guess that at least 1% of them have tasted rat milk.

There have been studies on rat milk, which itself suggests that someone has developed a process to extract it. I think if you spend sufficient time thinking about how to extract milk from rats, and you have no interest in drinking it, it'd be weirder than the alternative.

Also cat milk and .... rat milk

The analogy of toothpaste was used but yoghurt in a poch might be a better analogy.

Imagine dairy flavored toothpaste

The whale milk must flow.

So maybe more like a milkshake? Her milkshake brings all the calves to the yard?

Go on... 🤔

I'm addressing the final statement that "[Whale Milk] is basically cheese."

Apologies, that comment was made as I was falling asleep and this one is being made during a period of half-wakedulness that I hope to prove temporary.