Researchers have documented rare footage of a female humpback whale interacting with her stillborn calf off Australia’s Gold Coast. Captured near Palm Beach, the encounter shows the mother and an escort whale staying with the newborn for at least two hours, offering scientists a unique glimpse into post-mortem attentive behavior.
Marine scientists have uncovered a rare and powerful look into marine mammal behavior after capturing footage of a female humpback whale interacting with her deceased newborn. The event, filmed in waters off Palm Beach in July last year, revealed an intense physical attachment that experts say has not been observed in humpback whales before.
Underwater Footage Captures Rare Post-Mortem Behavior Off Palm Beach
The encounter unfolded when SeaWorld Foundation rescue boat captain Andrew Mulville was out fishing on his day off with his son and asked to check on two adult humpbacks reported to be acting strangely. Having spent 25 years caring for sick whales, conducting rescues, and dealing with strandings, Mr. Mulville had a strong understanding of typical whale behavior. After realizing one of the whales had given birth to a stillborn calf, he decided to film the encounter with an underwater camera. The mother repeatedly approached the calf, touching it with its head and fin, then lying still alongside the newborn’s body.
The female and another escort whale remained with the stillborn for at least two hours. Dr Olaf Meynecke noted, “They were not travelling, they were not socialising, and they were staying in the same spot and milling or turning around in the same area. We are seeing something here that suggests at least a strong attachment to this stillborn and clearly a change of behaviour after this event occurred.”
“That was a huge part of what made me even think to put my head underwater in the first place because it was something I’ve never seen before. It was a pretty powerful moment, but I suppose at the same time it was nature, and pretty emotional underwater with the sounds of both the mother and also a second adult companion animal there.”
Members of the public spotted two adult humpbacks in the same area over the next two days, although it was not confirmed if they were the same animals.
Griffith University Researchers Analyze the Sighting
Dr Olaf Meynecke, a marine scientist at Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program, co-authored a report of the encounter published in the Discover Animals journal. He noted that while similar grieving behavior—referred to as post-mortem attentive behavior—has been more commonly observed among types of toothed whales and dolphins, such as Orca whales carrying dead calves for hours or days at a time, dead humpback calves are much harder to observe because they are less buoyant and often sink to the bottom of the ocean quickly.
“Having the background knowledge of the strong bond between mother and calf, and then witnessing the response of a female towards a stillborn is obviously a very unique way of observing animal behaviour and understanding what the responses might be when a situation like this occurs.”
Humpback whale mothers may experience grief when their calves die, a rare observation led by Griffith University and Sea World Foundation has found. Dr Meynecke hopes that more people using drones while in the water will make it easier to document similar events in the future, stating that it helps researchers understand animals and humpback whales better, and can start conversations about what it means for a whale to actually be entangled in fishing gear or to experience stress, and how long that impact might even last.
Scientific Caution and What Lies Ahead for Whale Research
While the footage offers a compelling window into cetacean behavior, independent experts urge caution when interpreting the interaction. Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a whale scientist at Macquarie University who was not involved in the report, said it was challenging to interpret the female whale’s behaviour.
Dr Pirotta stated, For a humpback whale to give birth to a calf and it being stillborn, I would say that there would definitely be at least a reflection on potentially what has happened, given that this mother has been carrying this calf.
She noted that while humans and whales can share similarities as mammals, it was important not to anthropomorphise the behaviour, adding, What we can do is we can learn from observations, and that's exactly what science is about.
Dr Meynecke and rescue captain Andrew Mulville have both been working with whales for more than a decade. As drone technology and underwater documentation become more prevalent, marine researchers look toward future coastal sightings to learn from these observations.