Stork Is Visiting Critically Endangered Right Whales

7 new calves have been spotted off Florida, Georgia, in the wake of 0 last year
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2019 10:41 AM CST
Critically Endangered Right Whales Have Good News
In this March 28, 2018, file photo, a North Atlantic right whale appears at the surface of Cape Cod bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass.   (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

First there was one. But now the good news from critically endangered North Atlantic right whales has multiplied by seven—the number of new calves spotted so far this year in the waters off Florida and Georgia, reports the Daytona Beach News-Journal. That's especially encouraging given the zero calves that were spotted last year and five the year before, but still not enough, researchers say. “Every calf that gets us closer to 10 or a dozen is very encouraging,” says Jim Hain with the Marineland Right Whale Project.

But in order for the whales to maintain their limited numbers, they'd need to be delivering 16-18 calves. "In order for the population to grow, we would need even more calves," says a wildlife biologist. Part of the problem is that female whales are taking longer between deliveries: healthy whales should give birth every three to four years, but the seventh calf spotted this year was his mom's first since 2011. (More North Atlantic right whale stories.)

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