It takes a village to deliver a whale calf. That’s what the most detailed video ever of a sperm whale birth shows.
In the footage, a female whale in labor is surrounded by others assisting her. Almost all of her helpers are female. But not all are related to the birthing mom. This shows that sperm whales benefit from cooperation, just as humans do.
Because getting to watch the birth of a whale is extremely rare, only a few scientific studies have described them. Some of those reports have noted other whales helping the mom through the birthing process. But scientists had never caught this on video.
Explainer: What is a whale?
In 2023, David Gruber was part of a team that got very lucky. Gruber is a marine biologist. He works with Project CETI, a nonprofit dedicated to sperm whale research. Project CETI is partly based on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. Gruber was in a boat right off the coast when his team caught the birth.
The researchers weren’t looking for a whale birth. They just happened to be in the right plac...
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