The new humpback? Calf sighting sparks hope for imperilled right whale

Shy giant's journey back from the brink of extinction has received less attention that its charismatic cetacean cousinIt was a memorable finale to a day out on the Atlantic: a four-metre whale calf gliding past the boat as the divers returned to the Spanish island of El Hierro in the Canaries. Their incredible luck, however, would be made clear hours later, as researchers around the world clamoured for more details after seeing the 47-second video of the encounter online.The divers had unwittingly stumbled across a North Atlantic right whale - one of the world's most endangered whales. What made the December encounter extraordinary was that the recently born calf, which appeared to be alone, was spotted thousands of miles away from the species' usual haunts along the eastern seaboard of Canada and the US. Continue reading...