Scientists were able to snap a rare extraordinary footage of a calf breaking away from its mother after nursing on her. These scientists are hopeful that the rare video footage will significantly contribute to the conservation of these creatures.
Rare Footage of Humpback Whale Nursing on Mother
According to Science Alert, the footage includes a milk trail that is dispersing within the Pacific's depths off the coast of Columbia. After breaking away, the calf is also observed to rise over the surface in the Gulf of Cupica in order to take a breath.
As such, there have only been two instances where such feedings were snapped on camera, according to biologist Natalia Botero. The team of Botero from the Macuaticos Foundation captured the extraordinary calf-mother moment in August 2022.
This endeavor was enabled through sensors that were added to the calf's back just a few hours before. Sunction caps were also added to ensure that the calf did not get hurt, Cerebro Digital reports. The system also included a GPS, a camera, and a recording device to capture whale sounds.
Humpback Whales
Each year, thousands of whales sojourn to the tropics' warm waters for breeding across the stretch from Costa Rica all the way to Peru. This takes place after several months of feeding off Chile's Strait of Magellan and the Antarctic Peninsula. Colombian waters also host humpbacks from June all the way to November.
According to National Geographic, humpback whales can span 48 to 62.5 feet. They can also weigh as much as 40 tons and journey around 8,500 kilometers each breeding season.
These creatures are among the most popular mammals in the world. Some of their hallmark features include their unique flukes, spectacular leaps, and melodious singing, Endangered.org explains.
Botero explains that these creatures are now protected against commercial hunting. However, despite such efforts, they are still faced with different threats. As such, knowing more about the behavior of these creatures could help foster the right actions for conservation, Botero adds.
As per NOAA Fisheries, these creatures are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. Interestingly, humpbacks were among the first species to be protected by the latter Act. The former Act was spurred as a response to rising concerns regarding how significant marine species decline could be attributed to human activities. The latter, on the other hand, serves the purpose of conserving threatened and endangered species as well as their own ecosystems.
Endangered.org notes that the Endangered Species Act, along with other conservation efforts that have been exerted across the globe, has enabled the population of humpbacks to rebound back to almost 80,000. This was after its record-low point of roughly 10,000 to 15,000 whales.
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