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Two newborn whale calves spotted in US waters

Two newborn whale calves spotted in US waters

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There’s still two more weeks to the end of 2020, and how’s this for a piece of good news to end off the year? Two newborn calves of the North Atlantic right whale have been spotted recently in US waters.

File photo of a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) with calf
File photo of a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) with calf

Currently, there are only 400 of these whales left in the wild.

The first calf was seen on December 4, near Cumberland Island, Georgia. Then, on December 7, the second calf was spotted swimming alongside bottlenose dolphins off Vilano Beach, Florida.

Speaking to CNN, Jamison Smith, executive director of the Blue World Research Institute said, "With a population at such low levels, every individual counts, and it is great to see these two new calves at essentially the beginning of the calving season." He had taken photos of the two whales via drones.

Indeed, considering that a total of only 22 calves have been born during the last four breeding seasons combined, having these two newborn calves at the start of the breeding season (which runs from mid-November to mid-April) hopefully heralds more to come in the coming months.

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