Milk

Ella is getting bigger every day on her mother's milk. Elephant seal milk starts out watery, at 12 percent fat, and gets progressively thicker as the days go on. Ella will go from her birth weight of 65-80 pounds to about 300 pounds in a month.

Elephant seal mothers do not eat while they are lactating and feeding their pups. Every nutrient that goes into the pup comes directly from her. Her body metabolizes its blubber to make milk. More concentrated milk, with less water, means that much less her body has to produce. By the end of the month of lactation, the milk may be as much as 60 percent fat, making it more like mayonnaise than fluid.

Cow milk is naturally about 3.5 percent fat. Less fat in milk is often desired, and two percent, one percent and fat-free milk are available commercially. Human milk is about 4.5 percent fat.

Ella's mother is getting visibly thinner. She will lose about a third of her body weight by the time she weans her pup.