South Africa’s whales are getting thinner, and struggling to reproduce - EWN

South Africa’s southern right whales are showing worrying changes after more than four decades of research, with mothers now in significantly poorer physical condition and taking far longer to produce their next calves.

Research involving Dr Els Vermeulen, Research Manager at the Mammal Research Institute’s Whale Unit at the University of Pretoria, has found a 23% decline in the body condition of southern right whale mothers compared with the 1980s.

At the same time, the whales’ traditional three-year calving cycle has stretched to an average of seven years.

The findings are raising questions about whether changes in the Southern Ocean are making it harder for the whales to find enough food to successfully reproduce.