All articles tagged with #humpback whale
A humpback whale, CRC-11620, was sighted far inland on the Sacramento River near Rio Vista (also seen near Benicia), an unusual inland occurrence; The Marine Mammal Center is monitoring the animal and urges the public to stay at a respectful distance and not interfere, noting the whale has a long record of sightings in California and Mexico.
Researchers in 1949 off Bermuda recorded unexplained underwater sounds on an audograph disc; the disc sat archived for decades until scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identified it as possibly the oldest preserved recording of a humpback whale song, offering a rare pre-song baseline of the late-1940s ocean soundscape.
Researchers document a humpback whale mother staying with her deceased newborn calf after a stillbirth off Australia’s Gold Coast, an observation that may be the first detailed case of such behavior in humpbacks. The mother repeatedly touched the calf and remained nearby for hours, suggesting postmortem attentive behavior and highlighting strong maternal bonds in baleen whales. While this raises the question of whether whales grieve, scientists caution that the emotional state cannot be confirmed and that more at-sea observations are needed to understand how whales respond to death.
Researchers recorded the first video of a humpback whale mother grieving her stillborn calf off southeastern Australia, with the mother hovering over the body on the seafloor, making eye contact and repeatedly returning to it for hours, while an escort whale watched nearby. Because newborn humpbacks lack buoyancy and sink after birth, the calf died at birth and was not brought to the surface. The study suggests a strong maternal bond in baleen whales and provides a rare look at their responses to death.
A photographer recorded the rare moment a humpback whale delivered a calf off the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, using a drone — believed to be a world-first. The sighting, only the fourth ever of a humpback birth, was captured while documenting migrating whales for ORRCA and is expected to aid research into humpback reproduction and maternal behavior.
A drone operator filming off New South Wales captured the birth of a humpback whale calf, including its first breath. The event is likely only the fourth humpback birth ever filmed and the first captured by drone, providing scientists with valuable data on reproduction and maternal behavior gathered by ORRCA researchers.
A rare underwater sighting off Block Island captured an 8-foot great white shark feeding on a humpback whale carcass. Researchers from the Atlantic Shark Institute and Mystic Aquarium say it may be the first camera-recorded white shark sighting in Rhode Island waters, with the team collecting whale samples for research before the carcass washed ashore at Crescent Beach.
A dead humpback whale named Timmy washed ashore near Denmark's Anholt, swelling and decaying as locals watched; a German TV channel livestreamed the carcass and even displayed a suicide hotline number, turning the beached whale into a somber, controversial spectacle.
A dead humpback whale named Timmy, found off Anholt in Denmark, is at risk of exploding as gases build up during decomposition. Danish authorities and the coastal rescue service plan to tow the carcass into deeper waters and away from shore, a dangerous operation that could prevent a rupture near the coast; the whale is slated for a post-mortem in Grenaa after the recovery move.
Timmy, a humpback whale once stranded in German waters, was released from a barge into the North Sea about 70 kilometres north of Skagen, into a busy shipping lane. Biologists say he was extremely weakened and highly likely to have died, with unclear details about how the release occurred and skepticism over the rescue team's tracking claims. The private operation cost at least €1.5 million and drew criticism from scientists and conservation groups regarding the risks and ethics of transporting injured wildlife.
A humpback calf nicknamed Timmy, previously stranded repeatedly along Germany’s coast and in distress, was rescued and loaded onto a water-filled barge before being released into the North Sea off Denmark. The intervention sparked debate over what to do, but Timmy appeared to swim freely and toward the Arctic, with GPS monitoring planned for future updates.
A privately funded rescue ferried a beached Baltic humpback calf nicknamed Timmy to the North Sea in a flooded barge and released him near Denmark, where he swam away with a tracker. Experts had warned the animal was severely compromised and survival was unlikely, and the IWC criticized the rescue as inadvisable, but the incident drew national attention and public support while Denmark said it would not intervene if Timmy stranded again.
A humpback whale nicknamed Timmy, stranded in shallow waters off Germany since March, has been placed on a flooded barge and is beginning a voyage toward the North Sea, having reached Danish waters amid ongoing debate about the rescue effort and wildlife welfare.
Entrepreneurs funded a rescue to move Timmy the humpback from a shallow Baltic Bay toward the North Sea on a flooded barge, a roughly 400-km, multi-day journey that scientists warn could be risky despite veterinarians deeming him transportable.
A humpback whale stranded for weeks on Germany’s Baltic coast was coaxed into a water-filled barge and towed out of German waters toward the North Sea in a rescue funded by two entrepreneurs. The operation drew mixed reactions: officials hailed the progress, scientists warned of uncertain outcomes, and wildlife groups cautioned about the whale’s skin damage and the risks of such a move as it heads toward deeper waters for potential recovery.