Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A camera drone operator captured rare footage of a humpback whale giving birth off the north coast of New South Wales.
Alexander Forrest, a commercial drone pilot for the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), was conducting aerial observations of migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on July 28 when he noticed a whale swimming slightly behind her pod and going unusually slowly.
Then, he saw her give birth.
"It's incredibly rare to see a moment like this in the ocean. It's a very rarely documented encounter," Forrest told Live Science.
🎥 Alexander Forrest
Science News • Videos • Explainers
SUBSCRIBE to the Live Science YouTube channel → youtube.com/channel/UCOTA1_oiKnz8po1Rm3nDJPg?sub_confirmation=1
Twitter→ twitter.com/LiveScience
Facebook→ facebook.com/livescience
Instagram→ instagram.com/live_science
For the science geek in everyone, LiveScience.com breaks down the stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the Internet, while also digging up fascinating discoveries that hit on a broad range of fields, from dinosaurs and archaeology to wacky physics and astronomy to health and human history. If you want to learn something interesting every day, #LiveScience is the place for you.
A camera drone operator captured rare footage of a humpback whale giving birth off the north coast of New South Wales.
Alexander Forrest, a commercial drone pilot for the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA), was conducting aerial observations of migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on July 28 when he noticed a whale swimming slightly behind her pod and going unusually slowly.
Then, he saw her give birth.
"It's incredibly rare to see a moment like this in the ocean. It's a very rarely documented encounter," Forrest told Live Science.
🎥 Alexander Forrest
Science News • Videos • Explainers
SUBSCRIBE to the Live Science YouTube channel → youtube.com/channel/UCOTA1_oiKnz8po1Rm3nDJPg?sub_confirmation=1
Twitter→ twitter.com/LiveScience
Facebook→ facebook.com/livescience
Instagram→ instagram.com/live_science
For the science geek in everyone, LiveScience.com breaks down the stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the Internet, while also digging up fascinating discoveries that hit on a broad range of fields, from dinosaurs and archaeology to wacky physics and astronomy to health and human history. If you want to learn something interesting every day, #LiveScience is the place for you.
