Two right whale calves spotted off Georgia coast

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December 9th, 2022

Right whale catalog #1208 (“Medusa”) and her calf, the first calf documented during the winter 2022-23 calving season, about 11 nautical miles miles off Ossabaw Island on Dec. 7, 2022. 1208 is about 47 years old (she was first seen in 1981) and this is her seventh documented calf. (Courtesy of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, taken under NOAA permit 20556)

Two North Atlantic right whale calves have been spotted swimming with their moms off Georgia’s coast this week, marking the start to the calving season for the critically endangered species.

On Wednesday, an aerial survey team saw a whale known as Medusa swimming with a calf off St. Catherine’s Sound. It’s Medusa’s seventh documented calf. On Thursday, researchers saw another mother, known as Archipelago, and her new calf off the coast of Little St. Simons Island. This is Archipelago’s third calf.

Fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales remain, including just over 70 breeding females, so every calf is critical to the survival of the species.

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