00:06A mother humpback whale spent hours with her stillborn calf off the Queensland coast in a
00:12rare encounter that has scientists questioning the depth of whales emotional lives. Footage
00:17captured near Palm Beach Reef in July 2025 showed the mother repeatedly diving to her calf,
00:23touching it with her head and pectoral fin, swimming alongside it and staring into its eyes.
00:30Researchers said the behaviour was consistent with strong maternal attachment and potentially
00:35grief, although proving grief in wild animals remains difficult. Similar behaviour has been
00:41documented in elephants, dolphins and killer whales, but evidence has been scarce among baleen whales
00:47such as humpbacks. The calf would normally have sunk after death, meaning encounters like this
00:53could easily go unseen beneath the surface. Researchers are now calling for more study
00:58into what happens when whales lose their young.
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