Well can you?
Can you milk a whale?
I was talking about this with some people at work the other day and we thought that seeing as though they are mammals they should have mammary glands so you should be able to milk them.
Yes. You can roll him over and say “Red rocket! Red rocket!” while you milk him. That’s how you get dolphin milk – the same as Cartman got dog milk. 
Difficult, as cetaceans have developed a voluntary lactation. The calves do not have an effective way to suckle, so the mother squirts the milk into the calve’s mouth.
The milk is very rich and the calves are weaned quickly.
While the anatomy of the dolphin prevents milking them in the traditional manner favored by dairy farmers, captive dolphins can be train to give voluntary milk samples. Cite: T. M. Kalmelnick et al. 1994. Conditioning a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) for milk collection. Marine Mammals: Public Display and Research. 1 (1): 22-25. (Also presented at the 1992 International Marine Animal Trainers Association [IMATA] Conference).
The volume one obtains this way usually isn’t high and I would really recommend against drinking it, though. And I would definitely recommend against trying it with a dolphin near term or that already has a calf, as they tend to get cranky and/or over-protective…and, unlike cows, these are large predators (would you want to milk a cranky lion or tiger?).
Michele
this person has been milking too many dolphins
http://webpages.charter.net/hkirtley/stress/
It isn’t a novel idea; The milking of cetaceans is touched upon in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, although I realise this is hardly an authoritative volume.
How about bats? How many bats would you have to milk in order to get a quart of bat milk?
Scientists, in their never-ending pursuit of truth, justice, and the Newtonian way, have methodically worked their way through the entire Class Mammalia analyzing the milk of every type of mammal. So while milking many if not most mammals is not something fit for a farmer and his bucket, it has been accomplished many times.
A good long table of milk composition, including that for whales and dolphins, can be found here.
Bats are not on that table, but The Insect Eaters says:
And how can I pass up this link on male bats giving milk?
erm…wait. doesn’t that mean it is a novel idea?
:rolleyes:
Best. Cite. Ever.
Groan.
Quick trivia question; which group of non-mammals nourishes its young with ‘milk’?
Mangetout: Aphids?
That odd little creature the platypus gives milk, and while I do know it’s a monotreme I can’t recall if it’s considered a mammal.
Pigeons (also parrots, IIRC).
Actually, that link is a bit misleading, as it says pigeon milk is produced in the bird’s throat; it is actually (apparently) secreted by the lining of the crop.
Yes, the Monotremata are mammals.