WATCH: Endangered Right Whales 'Hug' Off Cape Cod Coast

Falmouth MA

07 May, 2021

5:34 PM

Description

WOODS HOLE, MA — North Atlantic right whales are already a rare sight, but a marine research videographer captured an even more incredible feat. National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry filmed two of the critically endangered whales embracing in an apparent hug. The aerial footage came from a Feb. 28 trip, where Skerry and Michael Moore, a scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, caught a glimpse of a group of whales playfully engaging with each other at the ocean's surface. Whether a whale hug means the same as a hug does for people is anyone's guess, according to Moore. "Flippers are analogous to arms. Thus, physically they are hugging," Moore said. "The reason they are doing this is unknown. I have speculated as to if affection may be involved. There has been so much bad right whale news recently, a little wonder can't be bad. " And that bad news is the whales' dwindling population. The critically endangered right whale was hunted to near extinction. According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, fewer than 400 remain, and they are under constant risk from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. During the past four years alone, 34 North Atlantic right whales were found dead on beaches after getting struck by ships or caught in fishing gear. See Skerry's video of the whale's hugging below: