In July 2024, whale experts shared adorable footage of a baby humpback whale breaching off the coast of Western Australia
The short video, taken by wildlife photographer Jason Milligan, showed a newborn humpback whale trying to breach. “Blows my mind that something so new to the world has the ability to launch out the air like that,” Milligan said on Instagram.
Although scientists aren’t exactly sure why whales breach, it could be for communication, to remove parasites, or just because it’s really, really fun. Whatever the reason, this little calf was already getting the hang of hurling itself out of the water and crashing down again with a mega splash.
Humpback whales typically travel thousands of miles from their polar feeding grounds to warm, sheltered waters to give birth and raise their vulnerable babies.
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But a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science in May 2025 found that some humpback mothers give birth before reaching safe, tropical waters – and keep swimming with their little ones until they get there.
“Hundreds of humpback calves were born well outside the established breeding grounds,” said the study’s senior author Tracey Rogers of the University of New South Wales. "Giving birth along the ‘humpback highway’ means these vulnerable calves, who are not yet strong swimmers, are required to swim long distances much earlier in life than if they were born in the breeding grounds.”
Image and video credit: Credit: Jason Milligan - Instagram: millo_hd
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