What an incredible privilege it was to see mother and baby Southern Right Whales so close to the shore. These incredible mammals visit the shallow waters of the southern oceans. These area act like nurseries where many females gather with young in the safety of the shallows.
We were lucky enough to be able to watch them from the shore in Victoria, Australia, where we witnessed mum and baby playing, cuddling, nursing and generally showing off a little bit. If you look closely at this photo, you can see that mum is on her back while baby suckles.
This photo is of the baby playing in the bay, I realise the scale is difficult to judge, females can be up to 18m long and calves may by 5-6m long. It is thought that this one was only a couple of weeks old, based on size and the time the female arrived in the bay.
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