New research has offered rare insights into the emotional complexity of humpback whales. Footage captured near Australia’s Gold Coast shows a female humpback whale appearing to grieve for a stillborn calf. The video documents the whale staying by the calf’s side as it lays motionless on the seafloor.

Accompanied by another whale, the grieving mother maintained eye contact and gently touched the calf with her head and fin. Andrew Mulville from the Sea World Foundation, who witnessed the scene, shared his initial confusion, believing he saw two whales resting, but then noticing their unusual behavior.

“It was definitely not what I was expecting to see out at sea that day,” Mulville reflected. The researchers observed that the whale remained with the calf for several hours, possibly even days. “It’s really sad,” stated Olaf Meynecke of Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program. The continual contact between the mother and calf was described as heartbreaking.

This observation is considered the first detailed documentation of such behavior in humpback whales. The researchers noted that the whale did not attempt to bring the calf to the surface, suggesting she might have realized her calf was deceased shortly after birth. This behavior may indicate a form of grief in humpback whales, highlighting the strong bonds between mother and calf.

Meynecke’s work emphasizes the emotional stages socially complex mammals undergo following the death of offspring or companions. The study was published in Discover Animals.

“We’re seeing this from elephants and apes and cases like that that are also extremely heartbreaking,” Meynecke said. “But on land, we witness this more often, whereas at sea it’s really rare to document something like this.”

This documentation follows another significant marine event. About two months earlier, a photographer in Australia captured footage of a humpback whale giving birth. This event, filmed by drone, is believed to be the first of its kind. Furthermore, in May, researchers reported an extraordinary migration. Two humpback whales swam a record-breaking distance between breeding grounds, one traveling from Bahia in Brazil to Hervey Bay, Australia, over 9,383 miles.

The rarity of witnessing such events at sea adds significantly to understanding marine mammal behavior and emotional connections.