Marine researchers from Griffith University and Sea World Foundation have documented an unusual behavioral observation involving a humpback whale mother and her deceased calf off the southern Gold Coast. The incident, which occurred in 2025, involved a female whale that remained in close proximity to her stillborn calf for an extended period, potentially spanning multiple days.
Dr. Olaf Meynecke from Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program noted that while attentive behavior toward deceased individuals has been previously recorded in toothed whales and dolphins, such observations are considerably rarer in published studies of baleen whales like humpbacks. The mother whale exhibited sustained attention toward her dead calf beneath the surface, maintaining eye contact and positioning herself alongside the calf for hours or possibly days. These actions resembled caregiving and nurturing behaviors documented in other socially complex mammals, suggesting a strong maternal bond.
Sea World Foundation Rescue Boat Captain Andrew Mulville witnessed the interaction firsthand and described being surprised by the whales’ unusual demeanor, initially mistaking them for two whales at rest before recognizing the distinct nature of their behavior.
The documentation adds to a limited collection of recorded cases involving deceased calves in baleen whales. Researchers emphasize that such rare encounters could advance scientific understanding of how large whales process death and what their behavioral responses might indicate about cognition and emotional capacity. The research team states that continued careful documentation of similar neonatal mortality events is necessary to determine whether these behaviors reflect maternal attachment, grief-like responses, or other emotional and social phenomena.
The findings have been published in the journal Discover Animals under the title ‘First documentation of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) post-mortem attendance of a stillborn.’
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