Endangered right whales in the North Atlantic were discovered to have given birth to a large number of offsprings over the winter, the largest in fact since 2015 - a hopeful return to life after researchers were shocked to find the marine mammals having no known offsprings three years ago.
Researchers were able to identify 17 right whale newborns with their parents offshore between Florida and North Carolina last December to March. Unfortunately, one of the newborns died shortly after being hit by a boat, a testament to the high death rates faced by marine creatures, and for right whales, might be outpacing the creature's ability to reproduce.
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A Sign of Recovery for Right Whales
According to survey teams monitoring the right whales, the overall calf count from the past winter is equal to the combined total for the previous three years, including the 2018 birthing season for the right whales - which yielded absolutely no new calves for the first time in thirty years.
Despite this achievement, researchers stress that even more births are needed in the next few years to allow North Atlantic right whales to recover from their current numbers, which have been projected to drop down to only 360.
"What we are seeing is what we hope will be the beginning of an upward climb in calving that's going to continue for the next few years," said Clay George, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in charge of right whale surveys, in a release from the AFP. He adds that the right whales need to give birth to "about two dozen calves per year" for their population to stabilize and hopefully recover.
During wintertime, right whales migrate to the warmer waters of the Atlantic ocean near the Southeastern United States for their calving season. Their populations are monitored by trained spotters flying a little beyond the coastline every day during this season, scanning the shallow waters for mother whales with their newborn calves.
Survey flights that monitor Georgia and Florida concluded their calving season monitoring on Wednesday, the last day of March. Spotters observing North and South Carolina will continue to monitor waters until April 15, hoping to find additional newborns before right whales head further north to their traditional feeding grounds.
New Waters and a New Shot at Life
The recent newborn count of 17 right whales is equal to the number of calves spotted in 2015. However, these numbers, despite being the records from the past decade, are still considered average by experts. The record for right whales is 39 newborns spotted back in 2009.
Scientists believe that the lower average rates at which these marine mammals reproduce have been caused by a lack of food source. They believe that there has been a significant shortage of zooplankton to sustain right whales in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy from Nova Scotia in Canada.
The positive growth in their birth rates this season is believed to be caused by healthier whale populations after moving to waters with more abundant food sources.
"It's a somewhat hopeful sign that they are starting to adjust to this new regime where females are in good enough condition to give birth," said Philip Hamilton, a researcher of right whales from the New England Aquarium in Boston.
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