After posting about a terrible year for North Atlantic right whales, in which no new calves were spotted following breeding season, it is refreshing to see some good news about whales. Scientists have observed what is being described as a “baby-boom” among humpback whales in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica. The researchers are not entirely sure why, but female humpbacks, in recent years, have had high pregnancy rates and are giving birth to more calves.
Humpback whales have seen a worldwide recovery after a moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in the late 1980s. As we posted in 2016, of the fourteen distinct humpback populations in the world’s oceans, ten are no longer considered to be endangered. Humpback communities off northwest Africa and in the Arabian Sea are considered to be endangered. Populations near Mexico and in the Western North Pacific are listed as threatened.