Last Tuesday, four years to the day after the first time “Calvin” was spotted off Wrightsville Beach she has reappeared and this time she is accompanied by her newly born calf!
On Tuesday morning researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington taking an aerial survey spied the two whales heading South about 10 miles east of Masonboro Inlet.
They were able to identify Calvin by unique features on the whale’s face. She was named Calvin four years ago when they were not able to determine her sex but that now seems obvious.
It is not certain where Calvin gave birth but it is believed it was somewhere near where she was sighted Tuesday.
Calvin and her calf are “Right Whales” so named because they were considered the “right” whale for whalers to hunt in the 1800’s due to their slow movement. There was a time when right whales were once a fairly common sight along the U.S. coastline.
The researchers see the presence of the whales as proof that right whales are giving birth off North Carolina.
This could lead researchers to reconsider where one of the most endangered mammals on the face of the earth breeds.
“This just reinforces that the waters off North Carolina are very, very important to this species,” Pabst said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Calvin and her new baby were cruising toward South Carolina.
The Coast Guard had issued warnings to mariners to watch out for the pair and to slow down and keep clear if the whales are sighted.
It is against the law for ships and boaters to avoid coming close to right whales especially as a mother with a newborn calf is very vulnerable.
Right whales have suffered from being hit by ships, entangled in fishing lines and due to their tendency to breed slowly recovery has been difficult so the federal government has recently passed laws to force ships to slow down as they enter and depart some major ports along the East Coast during some seasons.
