Incredible Video Shows Sperm Whales Come Together to Birth a Calf

On 8 July 2023, two unrelated sperm whale matrilines congregated at the surface off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.

Project CETI conducted the fieldwork, led by MIT computer scientist Alaa Maalouf, as part of its ongoing effort to decipher sperm whale language using recordings and machine learning.

At 9:50 am local time a birth was observed within a group of 11 at the surface; the newborn remained at the surface to take its first breaths.

Both kin and non-kin engaged in sustained cooperative postnatal care during the birth, taking turns to support the newborn in a social context.

The observations provide quantitative evidence of direct allocare in cetaceans and note that sperm whale matrilineal groups typically number up to about 10 individuals.