Kleenex has a new great grand calf

Couplet #2123 who is the daughter of Drippy-nose AKA Sonnet #1123 has been seen on the calving ground with her fifth calf.  Sonnet is the daughter of Kleenex #1142.  This increases Kleenex's family to six great grand calves, and, of course, the existing 9 grand calves and 8 calves.

It is nice to see that the daughter (#1301 Half Note) of the first right whale in the right whale catalogue (#1001 Fermata) has a new calf.  Fermata hasn't been seen since 1992 but her daughter has been successfully carrying on the family genes. 

If you have a Facebook account, check out the group Right Whale Research  https://www.facebook.com/groups/155650304506795/ and the Face-ing Extinction: The North Atlantic Right Whale page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Face-ing-Extinction-The-North-Atlantic-Right-Whale/187505221270322 for great information and updates.

Catspaw's Fourth Calf

Catspaw has a new calf this season.  We only see Catspaw in the Bay of Fundy when she has a calf, the same as Wart who also never comes to the Bay unless she has a calf, so we look forward to seeing both of them this summer in the Bay.

This is Catspaw's fourth calf.  She has had calves in 2002, a female, 2005, a male, 2008, another male, and now one in 2013.  We don't know the sex of this calf yet, but because a small skin sample was taken from the calf while it was in the calving area, the sex of the calf will be known once the genetic material is analyzed.

The head of Catspaw.  The callosities or rough patches of skin, are used to identify individuals.  These rough patches of skin develop in the first six months and remain a reliable method to identify individuals throughout their lives.

The New England Aquarium right whale researchers are attempting to get skin samples from every calf.  The newborns are not individually recognizable because they have no callosities.  If they are not seen with their mothers after the callosities emerge, they can not be identified through their mothers except with the genetic fingerprinting.  This will hopefully help when juvenile whales are photographed and a match can not be found in the right whale catalogue.  Getting a skin sample from the juvenile and comparing it to calf samples can determine whose its mother is.  There is still a percentage of the right whale population who have not been genetically profiled so it makes it difficult to work backwards to find the parents.

Catspaw has had an interesting sighting history, identified in 1986, seen for two years and then disappearing from the camera lens until 2000.  She was put on the probably dead shelf but was happily "resurrected" and went on to become a mother.

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Wart and Calf

Wart, #1140, and her calf were resighted during an aerial survey in mid April, again in the Cape Cod area.  While it was very exciting to know about Wart and her new calf being seen in January in Cape Cod Bay, many worried about the calf but the calf seems to be fine, growing and as far as is known, has never been to the calving area in the southeast US.

Right whale occurrence has been unusual this winter with few whales in the calving area, other than calving females, and few right whales in the Cape Cod area from January through March.  In late March, right whales suddenly appeared in large numbers in the Cape Cod area.  This continues the unpredictable distribution of last summer.

We look forward to see what will happen in the Bay of Fundy this summer with 20 new calves, some of which will come to the Bay with their mothers.

Wart and her new calf seen in January off Cape Cod. 
Allison Henry/NEFSC under Center for Coastal Studies NOAA permit #14603

Check out the New England Aquarium's blog with links to newspaper articles about Wart and her newest calf: http://news.neaq.org/2013/05/right-whale-sighting-wart-and-her-baby.html

Gemini shows up in calving area

Gemini has been spotted in the right whale calving area off Georgia in the first part of February. This is the second time he has been seen in the calving area, the first in 2008. Gemini is more than 30 years old but his exact age is unknown. It is unusual for adult male right whales to travel to the calving area, preferring to winter somewhere else. The calving areas are not breeding areas for right whales. Why Gemini is now going to the calving area is unknown.

In recent years, aggregations of adult right whales have been observed in the Gulf of Maine (Jordan Basin and Jeffrey's Ledge) well into January before dispersing. It has been speculated that this might be a breeding area, given that right whale gestation is about a year with calves generally born from December through March

Gemini joins another approximately 90 right whales that have been seen in the calving area this winter but only eleven mothers and calves this year so far, well below the number of calves born in the last nine years but more reminiscent of the numbers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Another great calving season

The right whale calving season started in December in the U.S. Southeast (primarily Florida and Georgia waters) and has been amazing with at least 22 calves born by the middle of January. Since 2001, the right whale population has been experiencing a baby boom with more than the average number of calves (~11) being born each year. The highest year was 2001 with at least 31 calves born, however, this is still below the biological potential for the population, i.e. there are still many females who are not having calves. It is quite possible this calving year might exceed the high in 2001. This is exacting what this population needs to recover to a more sustainable level. Right whales remain critically endangered with an estimated population of about 400.

Females typically space their calves by three years (unless their calf dies and then they may have a calf within two years), are on average ten when they have their first calf (youngest four, oldest twenty), and only have one calf at a time. Nursing a rapidly growing baby that weighs a ton at birth is very energy consuming, particularly when the females are fasting for the first few months. Female right whales need a resting year to regain weight before getting pregnant again.

Of our adoptable whales, so far:

• Baldy, #1240 was seen with her eighth calf (last calf in 2005)
• Calvin, #2223 was seen with her second calf (last calf in 2005)
• #1503, daughter of Baldy, was seen with her fourth calf (last calf in 2006)
• #2145, daughter of Grand Teton #1145 and Gemini #1150, was seen with her fourth calf (last calf in 2007 but calf died)
• Couplet, #2123, grand-daughter of Kleenex #1142, was seen with her fourth calf (last calf in 2006). Her mother is Drippy-nose AKA Sonnet #1123
• Shenandoah, #1266, mother of one of Baldy's grand-calves with son #2140, was seen with her seventh calf (last calf in 2004)

Another mother of note is Mavynne #1151. She was involved in the only known case of adoption in right whales in 1989 when she swapped her calf with the calf of Stumpy #1004. No one knows the circumstances, but presumably the two mothers gave birth close to each other and for whatever reasons, their calves ended up being exchanged. The association was discovered through genetic analysis of skin samples from the calves and comparison with their mothers. This is Mavynne's sixth calf. Unfortunately, Stumpy was struck and killed by a ship in 2004. She was missing the right fluke tip on her tail and hence her name.

The right whale catalogue is an invaluable source of information about individual right whales. It is maintained by the New England Aquarium's dedicated right whale team. http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/