My mother was the largest living mammal.
I was born when she was fifteen years old.
I was her first child, and I have eight siblings.
I am the largest child ever born to a mammal.
My mother had many suitors, and she chose my dad.
They traveled the ocean, mating and eating.
During pregnancy, my mom ate a huge amount of food.
I was born twelve months after I was conceived.
I was seven meters long and weighed three metric tons.
My mother fed me lots of milk that was rich in fat.
I began to grow, gaining more than ninety kilos a day.
After about nine months, my mother left me on my own.
By the time I was weaned, I was big, strong, and independent.
Even though we were separated, I used to see my mom occasionally.
She had a soft corner for me, as I was her first child.
I saw her giving birth to my siblings, and that made me happy.
Slowly, she began to tire as the years passed.
She began to slow down and reduced her food intake.
She became a ghost of the energetic mother who taught me to dive and feed.
I think she knew that her time was up and it was time for farewell.
One day, she made her final dive—a whale fall.
It required every ounce of strength she had to make the dive.
She sank to the bottom of the sea and lay there dying.
I was sad, as I was now an orphan, but every living thing has to die.
But the whale fall is not just a futile gesture to end a life.
It is the beginning of a unique and vital deep-sea ecosystem
that sustain life for decades, as my mother’s body becomes a source of food
for various deep-sea creatures, including sharks, crabs, and microbes.
One whale’s body can support a succession of communities
for more than fifty years. A whale fall is an act of sacrifice.
I have heard about generous humans donating their bodies and organs after death
for medical students to study, and to save many lives through organ transplantation.
One day, I will also have to make my final dive.
Before that, I have to give birth to many children, as my mom did.
Once my duties are over and I have fulfilled my dreams, I will also
make a whale fall, so that I can become food for other organisms.
