As southern right whales return, mothers are choosing nurseries where the other whales are

Australia's southern right whales were hunted nearly to nothing in the 1800s; since whaling ended in the 1970s, the mothers and calves visiting each winter have grown from a few individuals to several hundred. Scientists long assumed each mother faithfully returned to the bay where she was born. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — led by Anne Grundlehner at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, using aerial surveys from 1976 to 2023 — finds something more social: as numbers recovered, gathering places emerged, and mothers increasingly chose nursing grounds where other whales were. 'Instead, as the population grew, females were more likely to select nursing grounds where there were other whales,' said co-author Stuart Corney. For conservation, it matters: protect the gathering, and the whales will find each other.

SDG 14 · Life below water