Drone footage has captured what is believed to be the world's first aerial recording of a humpback whale giving birth. The extraordinary event occurred off the northern coastline of New South Wales, Australia, on Tuesday afternoon.
Drone operator Alexander Forrest was filming migrating whales for the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) when he noticed a humpback swimming unusually slowly near the ocean's surface. Initially, Forrest thought the whale was resting, but he soon witnessed a plume of blood appear beneath her, followed by a calf rising to the surface.
"Within moments, everything changed... a plume of blood appeared beneath her and a tiny calf rose to the surface for its very first breath," Forrest stated. "I realised I was witnessing something incredibly rare."
ORRCA's head of research, Annie Post, confirmed the significance of the observation, noting that humpback births are seldom filmed and represent important scientific data. "There are three other published observations of humpback whale births worldwide, with a preliminary review identifying this birth as the first to be captured from the air," Post said.
The ORRCA research team plans to analyze the footage and field observations before publishing their findings. Approximately 40,000 humpback whales are estimated to migrate along Australia's eastern seaboard each winter, traveling about 10,000 kilometers round trip from Antarctic feeding grounds to warmer tropical waters off NSW and Queensland for breeding, according to the NSW Department of Environment and Heritage.