When I was little, one of my favorite books was "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman.

You might remember the story of the little bird whose mother is out scratching for worms when he hatches, leaving the baby bird to search all over for her until he's rescued by a "SNORT," which lifts him back to his nest where he finally finds his mom.

It's not likely that the yacht a baby humpback whale has mistaken for his mother will be able to orchestrate a similar rescue. It seems so unlikely that a baby whale would mistake a piece of machinery for its mother, but the footage of the lost whale attempting to suckle the side of the boat seems pretty convincing.

When you consider all the technological advances man has made, it's hard to accept that there's no way to lead this baby whale to some sort of nourishment to save its life. If we can simulate human breast milk with baby formula, shouldn't there be something to feed the whale? Does it really have to starve while everyone just crosses their fingers hoping that a whale wet nurse might just happen to pass by to take the baby whale under her fin?

Hopefully someone will figure out another solution. In the meantime, here's the story from the Associated Press:

In this framegrab image taken off from Channel Nine television, a lost humpback whale calf swims around a yacht in the Pittwater, north of Sydney Harbour Monday, Aug. 18, 2008. The calf seems to think the yacht is its mother and will likely die within days if it doesn't find another mother to adopt it, a wildlife official said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Channel Nine)

August 19, 2008
Whale lost in Sydney waters, bonds with yacht
A lost humpback whale calf that bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother will likely die within days if it doesn't find another mother to adopt it, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave. Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat, but the creature returned to an inlet near Sydney Tuesday morning, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said.

The calf can't survive without mother's milk for long, Dengate told Australia's Fairfax Radio Network.

"It's probably a question of days rather than weeks," he said. "It's a very grim prognosis."

Artificial feeding would be impossible, so the calf's only chance is to find another female whale to accept it, he said.

"If a lactating female with a calf goes past and this calf approaches that animal it may accept it, but ... it's a very slim chance," Dengate said.

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