Family is also important to whale sharks. Scientists used to think whales layed eggs but Whale sharks have live babies. females have up to 300 pups. That a lot of babies! pups look like other whale sharks but smaller. Baby whale sharks are up to 16 to 24 inches. A Baby whale sharks becomes an adult at 30 years old. Whale sharks live a long time but scientists don’t know for sure how long they live. A whale shark’s family is very important to them, especially their babies