Southern Right Whale photos

Courting pair of southern right whales underwater, Eubalaena australis. While the posture in this photo isn't quite mating, it is a courting behavior that often precedes mating. The male is below, upside down and trying to access the female belly-to-belly. However, the female does not want to mate, so she has positioned herself upside down at the surface so that the males in the courting group cannot reach her genital slit.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38446  

Whale hair on the rostrum and chin of a southern right whale, sidelit by the setting sun. These individual hairs provide sensor information to the whale as it swims through ocean currents or touches the ocean bottom.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38331  

Seagull picks skin off a southern right whale, leaving a lesion that may become infected and which scientists have shown to be stressful to young calves.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38333  

Southern right whale raises its fluke tail out of the water prior to diving.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38337  

Southern right whale fluke raised out of the water, tail slapping.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38339  

Southern right whale raises its fluke tail out of the water prior to diving.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38341  

Breaching southern right whale, Eubalaena australis, Patagonia.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38405  

Courting group of southern right whales, aerial photo. Mating may occur as a result of this courting and social behavior. The white whale seen here is a serious player named El Copulador (the copulator) and is often seen in mating and courting groups of southern right whales at Peninsula Valdes. His light coloration is an indication that he was a white calf, but he did not darken as he aged in the way most white southern right whale calves do.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38357  

Southern right whale mother and calf, aerial photo, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38385  

Southern right whale mother and calf, aerial photo, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38386  

Courting pair of southern right whales underwater, Eubalaena australis. In this image, the male is below and inverted (belly up) and the female is at the surface. While the posture in this photo isn't quite mating, it is a courting behavior that often precedes mating.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38295  

Southern right whale mother and calf underwater, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38305  

Southern right whale mother and calf underwater, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38310  

Southern right whale mother and calf, Eubalaena australis, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35918  

Inquisitive southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, closely approaches cameraman, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35951  

White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35952  

Southern right whale mother and calf underwater, Eubalaena australis, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35953  

Inquisitive southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, closely approaches cameraman, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35954  

Inquisitive southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, closely approaches cameraman, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35955  

Inquisitive southern right whale underwater, Eubalaena australis, closely approaches cameraman, Argentina.
Species: Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 35956  

Southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38260  

Southern right whale fluke tail, underwater.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38262  

White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38276  

White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38277  

White southern right whale calf underwater, Eubalaena australis. About five per cent of southern right whales are born white due to a condition known as grey morphism and will gradually turn dark as they age. They are not albino (which is a complete lack of pigmentation). Sometimes referred to as "brindled", the white coloration is a recessive genetic trait and only lasts a few months. Typically, but not always, white calves will become much darker as they mature but will still be somewhat lighter than normal even as adults.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38278  

Southern right whale mother and calf underwater, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38287  

Southern right whale mother and calf underwater, Eubalaena australis.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38289  

Mother and calf southern right whales underwater. The calf swims close to its mother but, if the mother is accepting, the calf will be allowed to come close to the photographer and check him out.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38304  

Mother and calf southern right whales underwater.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38307  

Mother and calf southern right whales underwater. The calf swims close to its mother but, if the mother is accepting, the calf will be allowed to come close to the photographer and check him out.
Species: Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis
Location: Puerto Piramides, Chubut, Argentina
Image ID: 38312