A newborn sperm whale got stranded on Tuesday after its mother reportedly gave birth near the shore in Bluefields, Westmoreland.
Sperm whales, which migrate seasonally for breeding and to find food, were once heavily hunted for oil and other products derived from the mammal. While mature males are solitary, females cooperate to protect their babies (calves).
In footage reportedly recorded near the Bluefields’ shore, the mother can partially be seen from above the water. While the size of the animal is not precisely known, a man off-camera can be heard saying that it is “very, very big.”
According to America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), females reach sexual maturity when they are around 29 feet and nine years old. The females give birth approximately once every five to seven years to a single calf, which is around 13 feet long.
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In clips shared on Wildlife Jamaica, the newborn calf can be seen stranded behind the reef near onlookers and struggling to get past the rocks nearby. Blood can be seen in the surrounding water, and one onlooker expressed that it is “all scarred up,” while another said that it had been cut on its tail.
According to Wildlife Jamaica, the calf was in distress for some time but later reunited with its mother and returned further out to sea. Despite the fact that calves consume solid food before one year of age, mother sperm whales nurse their calves for several years.
Male whales reach physical maturity at around 30 years old.
Watch the video below.
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