Upside-down whales aren’t sick or hurt – they’re just resting

By Kate Sprogis, Lecturer, UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia
Fredrik Christiansen, Senior Researcher in Marine Biology, Aarhus University
Renae van Noort, Research Associate, UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia

If you stand on one of Australia’s southern shorelines at this time of the year, you might be lucky enough to spot a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) swimming in the shallow waters.

These ocean giants have migrated from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica to breed, give birth and to rest. If you’re really lucky, you may even see one of them resting upside-down.

At first glance, this perplexing behaviour, which has not been reported in other large whales, may make you think the animal…

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