A specific species of male orca whales live in a state of perpetual adolescence, to everyone's potential detriment.

Man-child, mama's boy, adult child — if you know the type, you know.

Cooking anything beyond an egg ends in disaster. And they still receive a steady allowance from their parents … at age 35. Wholly dependent on their mothers, they are stuck in perpetual adolescence. They may have grown to rely on it or struggle to achieve independence — families can be complicated — but either way, such relationships can be bad for the whole community.

While humans are lucky this behavior is more the exception and less the rule, it's the other way around for male orca whales, who, according to a paper published in Current Biology on February 8, remain big babies their entire lives.

That occurs to the detriment of their mothers, who, by devoting all their time, resources and energy to their demanding sons, abstain from further reproduction.