Three baby Humpbacks today made us feel like we were watching an episode of Play School that was translated in The Language of the Whales™! Peduncle slapping, breaching and plenty of surface activity was seen all around as these three separate pods of mothers and calves communicated to each other. Now is the perfect time for the female Humpbacks to allow their little ones to practice the behaviours that they have learnt with the other whales that are also regaining their energy reserves in the resting grounds before they all continue on the big migration back to Antarctica.
The largest female that we sighted today had the most beautiful young calf who was completely black except for the underside of his pectoral fins and fluke which was a rosy grey! The young calf was very curious and practiced a few peduncle slaps before mum started moving towards a pod of two yearling Humpbacks who seemed very curious towards the young calf. It was fantastic to watch as the Humpback calf stayed close to mum but was very interactive with his two new found friends often practicing a gentle fluke swipe if they came too close and rolling onto his side and back when surfacing. These interactions are vitally important for the social development of this young calf who will learn so much from each encounter… thanks to his very wise mum!
After getting to know each other the pod of four then decided that we looked rather interesting and all of the three youngest followed the large females lead as you moved towards our bow, circling right around our vessel to check everyone and everything out. The young calf couldn’t stop his curiosity getting the better of him and often lifted his eyes above the surface to get a better look at those strange humans looking at him.
ID Log
Date – 7.10.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed
Notes – One of the young yearling Humpbacks who was interacting with calf
