A Rescue Boat Filmed a Humpback Mother Standing Vigil Over Her Stillborn Calf
A female humpback whale gave birth to a stillborn calf about a kilometer off Australia's Gold Coast on July 17, 2025, then kept diving to the seafloor to lie beside it, nudge it with her head and a pectoral fin, and hold eye contact for a minute or more at a time, until the boat watching her left at 10 a.m. A rescue boat captain floating nearby with the engines off recorded it on a handheld GoPro, and the 12 minutes of usable footage are now the first detailed record of a humpback mother attendi
A female humpback whale gave birth to a stillborn calf about a kilometer off Australia's Gold Coast on July 17, 2025, then kept diving to the seafloor to lie beside it, nudge it with her head and a pectoral fin, and hold eye contact for a minute or more at a time, until the boat watching her left at 10 a.m. A rescue boat captain floating nearby with the engines off recorded it on a handheld GoPro, and the 12 minutes of usable footage are now the first detailed record of a humpback mother attending a stillborn calf. The account was published on September 16 in the journal Discover Animals by…