Southern Right Whale & Calf, Pt Anne, Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia

Описание: What a surprise we got while camping at St Mary's Inlet recently. Taking a walk to the beach we spotted a Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) and her calf!!! They frolicked reasonably close to shore just on the other side of the surf break. Mum stayed close to her calf, guiding and protecting it while it played around, practicing it's diving and surfacing. We sat among the dunes & watched them; it was so peaceful seeing these graceful giants swim so effortlessly through the cold waters of the Great Southern Ocean.

We've been to St Mary's Inlet/Pt Ann many times and never seen whales hence our surprise this trip. As we drove in we thought we saw a whale breaching out on the horizon but it wasn't until our walk the next morning which confirmed we had seen a whale yesterday. We thought "this will be a good trip; we'll see whales every day . . . ." Hmmm, we were a little disappointed when we went down each day after our first sighting and didn't see any whales. So it's a little hit or miss whether you'll see any whales however we felt privileged we saw this Southern Right Whale Mum and her calf.

Southern Right Whales are magnificent creatures growing up to 18 mts long and weighing up to 100 tonnes. There's several ways you can identify Southern Right Whales. They're baleen whales meaning they have two blowholes and no teeth. They are also easily distinguishable from other whale families by "white" markings on their head and around their jaw line. These markings are called callosities which are similar to callouses we can get on our hands/feet. Thanks to thousands of individual whale lice (Cyamus) and together with barnacles, these callosities look white or cream in color and make up the unique patterns seen on each Southern Right Whale. These "white" markings are as individual as human fingerprints. Another feature of Southern Right Whales is they don't have a dorsal fin and only have little stumpy flippers.

Sadly, the Southern Right Whale was named by Europeans simply because it was the "right" whale to hunt. This was due to the whales' inquisitive nature, being slow moving and coming close to shore to birth their young. The Noongar name, Maamang, sounds nicer and gentler, befitting these gentle and graceful giants. The Mamang Walk trail is named using the Noongar name.

Although almost hunted to extinction, Southern Right Whales are now classified endangered and thankfully are a protected species.

St Mary's Inlet is on the traditional lands of the Goreng, Menang and Wudjari people, and part of the Noongar people in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia.

Take nothing but photos/video,
Leave nothing but footprints and
Kill nothing but time.

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This video was filmed in 4K with a Mavic 3 Pro Drone

Chapters
0:12 - Close to the beach
0:27 - Heads up
0:41 - What, no dorsal fin
1:49 - Surfing?
2:48 - Where are you mum