Rarely seen moment of whale calf suckling recorded off New England coast, video shows
A right whale calf began suckling from its mother in New England’s Cape Cod Bay, and video captured the rarely witnessed moment.
However, the calf is so discreet, most people wouldn’t know it was happening.
The drone video, lasting more than six minutes, shows the calf repeatedly vanishing from the surface — and it’s in those minutes it was feeding under its mother, experts say.
The touching moment was recorded March 27, and the mom has been identified as a 41-year-old North Atlantic right whale named Spindle.
“This is Spindle’s 10th documented calf,” the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reported on YouTube.
“Unfortunately, only two of her known calves are female, and researchers recently sighted one of the juvenile females with severe entanglement and in poor body condition off the coast of North Carolina. It has not been seen since January.”
Only about 350 North Atlantic right whales are known to be alive, so calves are “vital,” experts say. It is believed about a dozen have been born so far this season.
Right whale calves feed as their mother lies “level at the surface,” according research published in the Journal of Mammalogy.
“Suckling bouts last less than 1.5–4.5 min, depending on age,” the report states. “Because the calf’s head is hidden beneath its mother, it is essentially impossible to ascertain from above-surface observations whether suckling is successful.”
Right whales give birth in shallow coastal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and north Florida, experts say. The calving season runs from mid-November into mid-April, NOAA reports.
Spindle is well known among researchers for giving birth more times than any other North Atlantic right whale, and she has at least one “grand calf,” NOAA says. Her most recent calf was first discovered Jan. 7 off St. Catherines Island, Georgia.
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Rarely seen moment of whale calf suckling recorded off New England coast, video shows."