A female humpback whale has been filmed repeatedly returning to the body of her stillborn calf off Australia’s Gold Coast, giving scientists an unusually detailed look at how one of the world’s largest animals may respond to the death of its offspring.

The footage, recorded in July 2025 near Palm Beach, shows the whale remaining in the same area as the motionless calf for hours. She repeatedly approached the body, touched it with her head and pectoral fin, and stayed alongside it, sometimes positioned face-to-face. A second adult whale, believed to have been an escort, remained nearby.

The observation has been described by researchers as the first detailed documentation of post-mortem attentive behavior in a humpback whale. The findings were published in Discover Animals on September 16, 2026.

What the footage captured

The calf was lying motionless on the seafloor about one kilometer offshore when the whales were observed.

The mother repeatedly returned to it rather than continuing a normal migration or moving away from the area. Researchers documented physical contact, including touching the calf with her head and pectoral fin, as well as prolonged periods spent resting beside it.

The mother also did not appear to attempt to carry the calf to the surface.

Researchers said the calf was presumed to have been stillborn. An amniotic membrane was observed shortly after the birth, although a placenta was not seen, so the circumstances surrounding the calf’s death could not be established with certainty.

Does this mean the whale was grieving?

That is the question attracting the most attention, but scientists are being careful with the word “grief.”

Researchers cannot directly measure the emotional state of a whale. Staying with a dead calf could reflect grief-like behavior, but it could also result from maternal attachment, confusion, instinctive caregiving or a response to the sudden loss of a newborn.

For that reason, the scientists use the broader term “post-mortem attentive behavior” rather than claiming that the whale experienced grief in exactly the way humans do.

Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta, who was not involved in the study, also cautioned against assuming that similarities between human and whale behavior necessarily mean the animals experience death in the same psychological way.

Why the discovery is unusual

Responses to dead offspring have been documented more extensively in toothed whales, including dolphins, killer whales and pilot whales.

There are reports of some killer whale mothers carrying dead calves for prolonged periods. Similar post-mortem behavior has also been observed in several other highly social mammals.

Comparable observations are much harder to make in baleen whales such as humpbacks. A dead newborn calf can sink quickly, making it difficult for researchers to find and observe what happens afterward.

That is why the Gold Coast footage is potentially important. It captures behavior that researchers rarely get the opportunity to document in a humpback whale.

A strong maternal bond may play a role

Humpback mothers invest heavily in their calves.

Pregnancy lasts for almost a year, after which the mother must help the newborn reach the surface and begin breathing. Calves then depend on their mothers for milk, protection, and guidance during the early stages of life.

The researchers say this strong maternal relationship could help explain why the female remained with the dead calf after birth.

The observation also fits with other examples of humpback whales responding to animals in distress. The species has been documented defending calves from predators and remaining near injured or entangled whales. Researchers have also recorded humpbacks intervening during attacks involving other marine animals.

The whale stayed in the area instead of behaving normally

One clue that particularly interested researchers was the change in the whale’s normal behavior.

The two adults were not simply passing through the area. They remained near the same location and repeatedly turned or milled around the calf.

That behavioral disruption is one reason scientists consider the encounter significant. The whale appeared to suspend normal movement and social activity while remaining focused on the newborn.

The researchers say such observations could eventually help scientists investigate how whales respond not only to death, but also to prolonged stress, injury and entanglement.

How the footage was discovered

Andrew Mulville, a Sea World Foundation rescue boat captain, was initially asked to check on two whales that appeared to be behaving unusually.

At first, he thought the animals might simply be resting.

After realizing that one of the whales had given birth to a dead calf, he used an underwater camera to record the encounter. His experience working with whales helped him recognize that the behavior was unusual enough to investigate further.

Members of the public later reported seeing two adult humpbacks in the same area over the following two days. However, researchers could not confirm that they were the same whales.

What scientists still do not know

The biggest unanswered question is what the whale understood about the calf’s death.

Researchers cannot determine from the footage whether the mother recognized that the calf was dead, understood what had happened, or experienced an emotion comparable to human grief.

They also do not know whether similar behavior is common among humpback whales but rarely observed because births and deaths usually take place far from people and are difficult to monitor.

The authors hope that more underwater cameras, drones and other observation technologies will make similar encounters easier to document.

A rare window into whale behavior

The discovery does not prove that whales grieve in the human sense. It does show, however, that a humpback mother can remain intensely attentive to a dead newborn instead of immediately abandoning it.

That behavior adds to growing evidence that cetaceans have complex social and behavioral lives.

For scientists, the significance of the footage lies not just in its emotional impact. It provides a rare natural experiment for studying maternal attachment, behavioral disruption and responses to death in a baleen whale.

And for anyone watching the footage, the scene is difficult to miss: a mother circling back again and again to a calf that will never swim beside her.