Overview
- The footage, recorded in July 2025 near Palm Beach Reef, shows a mother humpback repeatedly returning to a motionless newborn on the seafloor and touching it with her head and pectoral fin.
- A study published September 16, 2026 in Discover Animals frames the encounter as the first detailed scientific record of this 'post-mortem attentive behaviour' in humpback whales and cautions that behaviour alone cannot prove the whale experienced human-like grief.
- Observers did not see the mother try to lift the calf to the surface to breathe, and researchers reported the encounter lasted at least several hours though later sightings could not confirm the same individuals.
- Scientists say such events are rarely seen because newborn baleen calves have little blubber and can sink after death, and only about 20 humpback births have ever been documented, none previously involving a stillborn calf.
- Authors and university press offices highlight the value of small cameras and citizen sightings and call for coordinated, repeatable monitoring to gather more data on newborn deaths, maternal responses, and possible conservation implications.