On July 28, Alexander Forrest, a drone pilot from the Australian Whale and Dolphin Rescue and Research Organization (ORRCA), observed migrating humpback whales from the air.
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During the observation, A. Forrest noticed a whale lagging slightly behind its pod and moving unusually slowly. Soon he saw the whale giving birth to a calf.
“It is incredibly rare to witness such a moment in the ocean. Such cases are recorded very rarely. As far as we know, this is the first live birth of a humpback whale filmed by drone. These images provide a unique opportunity to see the first moments of the calf’s life and reveal the behavior of the newly calved humpback whale and its newborn calf,” A. Forrest told the Live Science portal.
The drone footage shows the newborn whale calf surfacing for the first time to breathe air from the blood-stained water surface. Soon the mother turns around and returns to her calf. This scene was filmed about 700 meters from the Kingscliff coast, New South Wales.
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According to A. Forrest, this birth is one of the brightest examples of successful nature conservation – the humpback whale population off the coast of New South Wales has grown from the brink of near extinction to nearly 50,000 individuals. He says that collecting data on this whale population is very important because it helps better understand where they give birth, how birth occurs, and what the first moments of the newborn’s life look like.
The recorded material will now be thoroughly analyzed, and the observation results will be peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. Scientists were particularly interested in the fact that the whale was lagging behind its pod while giving birth. Biologists will compare this case with other recorded whale births where the female was surrounded by other pod members.
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