THIRD blue whale calf in the St. Lawrence!

Three calves! This past July 15th, our collaborator René Roy was out on the waters off Matane, having found six blue whales, including another cow and calf pair!

_{B324 and her calf}

If you follow us regularly, you will know how exciting this news is. This is indeed the third blue calf of the 2018 season, bringing an end to the 9-year trend of absent blue whale births.

The mother was swiftly identified as B324, a regular female of the Gulf, which we first identified in 1995. Her and her calf appear to be in good physical condition.

_{The mother, B324}

_{The calf of B324. Note the difference in pigmentation between the two!}

To the best of our knowledge, this B324’s first calf. However, these observations have us wondering why we haven’t seen any blue whale calves during all those years? It is clearly possible to see them from May to September, so where were they? It is, of course, not impossible that we may have missed them, but it is interesting to note that we are suddenly seeing more blue whale calves than we have in years, while North Atlantic right whales have not had a single calf for the first time in decades.