Here’s some good news: Humpback whales are making a comeback in the Antarctic; in fact, they’re enjoying something of a baby boom.
A new study under Ari Friedlaender of the University of California at Santa Cruz reports that female humpback whales are having higher pregnancy rates and giving birth to more calves in recent years than previously. The whales were almost hunted out of existence in the late 19thcentury and for most of the 20thcentury, until international treaties were signed to protect them.
The whales, which grow to the size of a school bus, have life spans similar to ours. To determine if their population was growing after the treaties were signed, researchers tried to determine the size of the humpback population near the Western Antarctic Peninsula. They used small darts to take skin and blubber samples from 507 whales from 2010 to 2016; among other things, the samples revealed the whales’ pregnancy rate.
The scientists were amused to learn that the whales were just as curious about them as they were about the whales. Indeed, the whales often swam next to the researchers’ boat, even with their babies. Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/science/humpback-whale-antarctica.html
