ABOVE: A North Atlantic right whale mom swims with her new calf on January 6, 2019. FLICKR, FWC FISH AND WILDLIFE INSTITUTE
Seven new North Atlantic right whale calves are swimming off the southeastern US coast, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports. Last year, no new babies were born, so the uptick in births this year offers a small amount of hope that the endangered species might pull itself back from the brink of extinction.
“The signs are better than they were last year or the year before, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Philip Hamilton, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life tells The Scientist. Often, the media coverage of the calf count, especially in a year like this when there are several new babies, can lead to the idea that everything is fine and the whales are ...
