Fears grow for lost baby whale

[Every Breaking Wave]

Source

Fears were growing Tuesday for the survival chances of a lost baby humpback whale who tried to suckle from an Australian yacht in the belief it was its mother.

Wildlife experts used the yacht to lure the calf out of Pittwater bay near Sydney's Palm Beach on Monday, hoping it would link up with other whales passing by on their annual breeding migration.

But on Tuesday the calf was back among the anchored yachts in the vast bay, having failed to find either its own mother or a surrogate, Department of National Parks and Wildlife spokesman Chris McIntosh told AFP.

"We successfully lured the calf about a kilometre out to sea -- probably the first time that's been done using a yacht as a surrogate mother," he said.

"Later we saw whales a bit further offshore and there was a slender chance it may have linked up with them, but this morning we have got reports that it has returned to the western shores of Pittwater."

McIntosh said the calf now most likely faced the prospect of dying of hunger, being attacked by sharks or stranding itself.

"While it's moving quite freely at the moment, its condition would be expected to deteriorate over the next three days," he said. "There is very little hope, virtually none."

McIntosh said that if the calf became stranded or beached itself, mercy killing will be considered.

The calf showed no signs of injury, apart from some lacerations apparently caused by rubbing up against the boats, and it was believed likely to have simply been rejected by its mother.

"We've consistently said it was a slim chance that it might link up with its mother or other whales but the reality is that in the wild, for various reasons, mothers sometimes reject their young," McIntosh said.

The calf was estimated to be two months old, about five metres (yards) long and to weigh five tonnes, but it would still rely primarily on its mother's milk and its chances of survival without it were negligible.

"Looking at its behaviour, the way it was nuzzling up to yachts, would indicate it was primarily still suckling," McIntosh said.

"It really was trying to suckle, just below the waterline and against the keel, with its head engaged against the boat."

It would be difficult to lure the calf out to sea again now that it had lost its strong attachment to a particular boat, and attempts to herd it would cause unacceptable stress, he said.

The humpbacks are on the return leg of a remarkable annual round trip from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed, and they can be seen ploughing homewards not far off Sydney's beaches on most days.

 

[Amewsment]

Can't they take the boat out to see near the whales and try and work from there, at least that's what I would try not that I have much expertise on the topic of stranded whale babies. An unfortunate turn of events it seems, maybe it can't be reintegrated into the wild if this continues. Possibly ending up in a zoo or dead if it can't re-adapt, rather sad actually.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

This is really sad...I wonder, though, if an organization such as Sea World couldn't come and rescue it, however? Or another wildlife preservation organization could work with the owners of the yacht and attach a sort of 'replacement nipple' linked to a supply of a formula that imitates the properties of whale milk so that the whale could still suckle and wouldn't be put through the stress of being relocated to a zoo away from it's "mother".

 

[Zeta]

I don't think Sea World or most aquariums have the resources to take care of a humpback whale. They're much larger than orcas or whale sharks, which are pretty much the largest creatures most aquariums are able to take care of.

 

[Lilac Hill]

Unfortunately it'll be put down tonight, injuries too severe.

 

[Wonder Happiny]

Poor little baby whale...it seems so sad to have to put it down.

 

[Ben Cousins]

Couldn't nature just take care of it?

 

[Sketch]

Couldn't nature just take care of it?

By nature you mean let it take care of itself?

If it won't go out to nature then it can't do anything. It's still in a stage of development where it needs a mother.

 

[Amewsment]

It would have died regardless so they simply accelerated what was happening thus "letting nature take care of it" in a more humane way. The outcome was the same in both cases but they chose the one with the least suffering.

 

[PDL]

The outcome was the same in both cases but they chose the one with the least suffering.

Eaten by Ocras?

Meh, Humpbacks may be endangered, but they're still subject to ecological pressures. Unfortunate but true.

 

[Amewsment]

Starvation I would have thought and orcas only come close to human habitat in rare cases so they probably wouldn't have encountered it.

 

[Lil Brother]

a lost baby humpback whale who tried to suckle from an Australian yacht in the belief it was its mother.

I laughed at that. I'm awful. XD

Anyway, poor litt- uh, poor thing. Whales really abandon their young like that? How horrible.

 

[Lilac Hill]

Well they've found a dead humpback not too far from where the baby was, so they're trying to see whether its the mother.

I doubt the baby was just abandoned.

 

[Lil Brother]

Well they've found a dead humpback not too far from where the baby was, so they're trying to see whether its the mother.

I doubt the baby was just abandoned.

I kinda meant whales abandoning their offspring in general. Based of this particular part of the article:

The calf showed no signs of injury, apart from some lacerations apparently caused by rubbing up against the boats, and it was believed likely to have simply been rejected by its mother.

"We've consistently said it was a slim chance that it might link up with its mother or other whales but the reality is that in the wild, for various reasons, mothers sometimes reject their young," McIntosh said.

 

[Lilac Hill]

Ah, right.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

I don't think Sea World or most aquariums have the resources to take care of a humpback whale. They're much larger than orcas or whale sharks, which are pretty much the largest creatures most aquariums are able to take care of.

I didn't mean Sea World was the only option, I said an orginazation like Sea World. Besides, they don't have to raise it to full maturity -- remember JJ, the grey whale? They only raised her for a year, until she was weened of formula and could find food on her own, and then they released her.

Anyway, poor litt- uh, poor thing. Whales really abandon their young like that? How horrible.

Unfortunately, abandonment of young happens in every species. It's often a matter of survival, if times are harsh: it's a choice the mother abandoning her offspring in the hope that she will live to bear more offspring in the future, or the mother putting so much effort into the baby's survival that she causes her own death (by starvation or what have you). Often, it's the first scenario. It's also somewhat of an insurance policy for some animals that give birth to multiple young. The parents concentrate all their efforts on one of their offspring to ensure that it will live, at the cost of their other baby. That's why it's so hard for pandas to breed in the wild. Panda mothers often give birth to twins, but the mother only takes care of one, so the other dies.

 

[Amewsment]

It was not abandoned on purpose, it got confused and started to think the yacht was it's mother.

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

It was not abandoned on purpose, it got confused and started to think the yacht was it's mother.

The calf showed no signs of injury, apart from some lacerations apparently caused by rubbing up against the boats, and it was believed likely to have simply been rejected by its mother.

"We've consistently said it was a slim chance that it might link up with its mother or other whales but the reality is that in the wild, for various reasons, mothers sometimes reject their young," McIntosh said.

Whales have incredibly strong bonds with their young. The mother would have never left the calf's side if it had not been rejected. The fact that it was still nursing means that they would have been in incredibly close proximity to one another. Not to mention the fact that the calf can easily identify it's mother by the mother's calls.

Either the mother died or the calf was rejected/abandoned. There is absolutely no way that a whale calf would mistake a yacht for it's mother. Another whale perhaps, but not it's mother.