Savannah: Scientists spotted an endangered right whale pulling a length of fishing cord while swimming with a newborn calf off the Georgia coast, a rare confirmation of birth by an entangled whale that experts have determined is safe Can’t really help.
Clay said when an aerial survey team spotted the baby whale with its mother near Cumberland Island in Georgia on Thursday, it appeared healthy and injured. George, a wildlife biologist with Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
This was the second newborn right whale confirmed in the Atlantic The waters of the southeastern US during the species’ calving season which typically runs from December to March.
North Atlantic Right whales are critically endangered, with scientists estimating that fewer than 350 survive. Adult females migrate to warm waters from Georgia and Florida each winter to give birth. George said he was aware of only one other confirmed report, from January 2011, of an entangled right whale with a newborn baby – and she eventually managed to free herself.
The female whale seen last week, identified by the unique markings on its head, has been pulling a fishing rope since at least March. That’s when it was first reported engaging in Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Massachusetts. Wildlife experts managed to shorten the rope before the whale headed south, but they were unable to free it.
“We haven’t seen a long-tangled whale coming down from the north and a calf,” George said. But on the other hand, it could eventually be a death sentence for him.”
That’s because the mother whale can struggle to nurse her calf and still have the energy needed to pull the fishing line, while also trying to recover from potential injuries to her mouth, George said.
Female right whales usually gut themselves in the water where they feed and mate new England And before heading south to Canada to give birth. They won’t eat again until they return – a round trip that can take three months or more.
Trained respondents in a boat contacted the mother whale and calf on Thursday. After consulting with other experts, George said, the response team concluded that any attempt to remove or further shorten the fishing rope would pose a great risk to both whales and boat crew.
Spotters who check the waters daily for whales and their babies during the spawning season plan to keep an eye on the pair.
“My concern is that he’s still got two pieces of rope, about 20 feet, protruding from the left side of his mouth,” Georgia said. “If those two pieces of rope are tied around each other and there is a loop, you can imagine that the calf could get stuck.”
with scientists and advocates North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium In October he said he suspected marine mammals lost about 10% of their population in the past year, dropping their total numbers to an estimated 336.
Right whales were exterminated during the commercial whaling era, when they were hunted for their oil. Now scientists say entanglements with fishing gear and collisions with ships are killing right whales faster than they can reproduce.
Clay said when an aerial survey team spotted the baby whale with its mother near Cumberland Island in Georgia on Thursday, it appeared healthy and injured. George, a wildlife biologist with Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
This was the second newborn right whale confirmed in the Atlantic The waters of the southeastern US during the species’ calving season which typically runs from December to March.
North Atlantic Right whales are critically endangered, with scientists estimating that fewer than 350 survive. Adult females migrate to warm waters from Georgia and Florida each winter to give birth. George said he was aware of only one other confirmed report, from January 2011, of an entangled right whale with a newborn baby – and she eventually managed to free herself.
The female whale seen last week, identified by the unique markings on its head, has been pulling a fishing rope since at least March. That’s when it was first reported engaging in Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Massachusetts. Wildlife experts managed to shorten the rope before the whale headed south, but they were unable to free it.
“We haven’t seen a long-tangled whale coming down from the north and a calf,” George said. But on the other hand, it could eventually be a death sentence for him.”
That’s because the mother whale can struggle to nurse her calf and still have the energy needed to pull the fishing line, while also trying to recover from potential injuries to her mouth, George said.
Female right whales usually gut themselves in the water where they feed and mate new England And before heading south to Canada to give birth. They won’t eat again until they return – a round trip that can take three months or more.
Trained respondents in a boat contacted the mother whale and calf on Thursday. After consulting with other experts, George said, the response team concluded that any attempt to remove or further shorten the fishing rope would pose a great risk to both whales and boat crew.
Spotters who check the waters daily for whales and their babies during the spawning season plan to keep an eye on the pair.
“My concern is that he’s still got two pieces of rope, about 20 feet, protruding from the left side of his mouth,” Georgia said. “If those two pieces of rope are tied around each other and there is a loop, you can imagine that the calf could get stuck.”
with scientists and advocates North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium In October he said he suspected marine mammals lost about 10% of their population in the past year, dropping their total numbers to an estimated 336.
Right whales were exterminated during the commercial whaling era, when they were hunted for their oil. Now scientists say entanglements with fishing gear and collisions with ships are killing right whales faster than they can reproduce.
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