Yes. Researchers recorded a sperm whale giving birth off Dominica on July 8, 2023, as the other 10 members of her social unit gathered around and physically supported the newborn. The peer-reviewed account, published in 2026, documents the delivery and the whales’ behavior; it does not establish exactly what each whale intended or how much the assistance affected the calf’s survival.
What happened during the birth?
Project CETI researchers encountered 11 sperm whales belonging to a known social unit, Unit A, off Dominica. They recorded the event using underwater audio, aerial drone video, shipboard photographs, and behavioral observations. The mother was a whale called Rounder.
The peer-reviewed study reports that the calf’s flukes first appeared at 11:12 a.m. local time. Delivery was complete at 11:45:45, an observed interval of about 34 minutes from the first sighting of the emerging flukes. A breath was clearly observed less than two minutes after birth. The study in Scientific Reports provides the detailed timeline.
How did the other whales help?
All 11 members of Unit A were present and participated in the event. Adult females repeatedly dived beneath Rounder, often turning belly-up with their heads oriented toward her genital area. After delivery, adults touched, pushed, squeezed, and lifted the calf, keeping it at or above the surface on their bodies.
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The group included whales from two matrilines. Researchers identified both related and unrelated females among those assisting, so the observed attendance was not limited to the mother’s closest relatives.
Why might the whales have lifted the calf?
The study authors suggest that lifting may help a newborn that is negatively buoyant—that is, prone to sinking rather than floating easily. The recorded lifting and support are directly observable; the explanation of how that behavior helps the calf is an interpretation offered by the researchers.
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It is reasonable to describe the actions as cooperative care, but a recording of one birth cannot reveal each whale’s individual motive, prove that they followed a deliberate plan, or measure whether their actions improved survival. The study also does not establish that this behavior is typical across sperm whale populations.
What did researchers learn from the whales’ sounds?
Researchers analyzed the whales’ vocalizations and reported statistically significant shifts in coda vocal style around key events, including the birth and later interactions with short-finned pilot whales. They also detected vowel-like acoustic features. These are acoustic findings, not translations of whale speech or definitive proof that the whales were verbally coordinating the birth.
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Was this the first time whales have helped at a birth?
The footage offers an unusually detailed record, but it does not establish an absolute first across all whale species. The study places the event in the context of how rarely wild cetacean births have been recorded: its authors state that observations exist for fewer than 10% of cetacean species. That figure is the article’s literature-context statement, not a claim that fewer than 10% of cetacean species give birth in the wild.
In an Associated Press report, behavioral ecologist Mauricio Cantor, who was not involved in the study, said, “The group quite literally helps bring the calf into the world.” The study authors also report a phylogenetic inference that lifting newborn whales out of the water may predate the most recent common ancestor of toothed and baleen whales by more than 36 million years. That is an evolutionary estimate, not a date directly observed in this birth.
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What is known about the calf afterward?
The calf was seen again with other young whales from Unit A on July 25, 2024. The published account does not establish its status after that sighting.
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