Rare sighting of newborn gray whale swimming in Monterey Bay

A newborn baby gray whale spotted swimming alongside it’s mom in the Monterey Bay was caught on video earlier this month.

Monterey Bay Whale Watch said the newborn calf was very small and had to poke it’s whole head up to breathe, which means it was recently born.

“The calves are usually born in the warm water lagoons of Baja, Mexico. All the whales are currently traveling south to Mexico, which is a safe and warm place to give birth and nurse their calves for several months before they travel back north to Alaska to feed in the Spring,” said Monterey Bay Whale Watch, Nancy Black.

In the whale watching company’s drone video you can see just how tiny the calf is compared to it’s mother.

Black said gray whales can get up to 45 feet as adults and newborns are about 15 ft. The only predators gray whales have are killer whales.

“In the spring when the Gray Whales are traveling north, the Killer Whales will frequent Monterey Bay to prey on the Gray Whale calves,” said Black.