2026年9月16日 / 美国东部时间下午1:55 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/法新社
一项于周三发布的最新研究记录了一头雌性座头鲸似乎正为自己的死胎幼崽悲伤，这为了解这种海洋哺乳动物的复杂情感提供了罕见视角。
这段于去年在澳大利亚黄金海岸外海域拍摄的影像显示，一头雌性座头鲸一直守在一动不动躺在海床上的死胎幼崽身旁。
这头鲸鱼在一名同伴的陪伴下，与幼崽保持对视，并用头部和胸鳍触碰幼崽。
“第一眼我还以为只是两头鲸鱼在海面休息，但它们的行为非常反常，”亲眼目睹这一令人心碎场景的海洋世界基金会的安德鲁·马尔维尔说道。“那天在海上遇到的情况完全超出了我的预料。”
研究人员表示，这头鲸鱼已经在已故幼崽身边守候了“数小时，甚至可能长达数天”。
“这真的令人难过，”格里菲斯大学鲸鱼与气候研究项目的奥拉夫·梅内克告诉法新社。“看到这头雌性鲸鱼持续与死去的幼崽保持接触，实在让人揪心。”
A female humpback whale has been documented apparently grieving a stillborn calf in new research released Sept. 16, 2026. Meynecke, JO., Mulville, A. First documentation of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) post-mortem attendance of a stillborn. Discover Animals.
研究人员称，当时在该区域还观察到了其他几头死亡的鲸鱼幼崽。
blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/68463dfa-b93b-4200-989e-d6ecf58c7e2c
“据我们所知，这是首次详细记录该物种出现此类行为，”研究人员在报告中写道。
这头鲸鱼并未尝试将幼崽带到海面，这表明“它可能在分娩后不久就已经意识到幼崽已经死亡”，他们说道。
研究人员表示，这头鲸鱼的行为“可能代表了座头鲸的一种与悲伤相关的行为模式”。
梅内克表示，他的研究印证了鲸类母子间“牢固的纽带”，以及这种“具有复杂社会结构”的哺乳动物在后代或同伴死亡后所经历的情感阶段。
这项研究于周三发表在《探索动物》期刊上。
海洋哺乳动物此前也曾出现过类似行为。2018年，一头虎鲸因驮着自己死去的幼崽长达两周之久登上新闻头条，去年人们再次发现它驮着新生幼崽的尸体，而此时距离研究人员确认它分娩仅过去了几天时间。
梅内克表示，鲸鱼并非首批被观察到存在复杂哀悼仪式的非人类哺乳动物。
“我们在大象、猿类等动物身上也观察到过这类同样令人心碎的案例，”梅内克说道。“但这类行为在陆地上更为常见，而在海洋中记录到此类事件则非常罕见。”
这段影像发布于约两个月前，当时澳大利亚一名摄影师用无人机拍摄到了一头座头鲸分娩的画面，据信这是人类首次用无人机记录下鲸类分娩过程。
今年5月，研究人员宣布他们记录到两头座头鲸在繁殖地之间创下了创纪录的迁徙距离。根据这项研究，其中一头鲸鱼先是在巴西巴伊亚州海岸附近被观测到，22年后又在澳大利亚赫维湾的一处繁殖地被发现，两地距离约合9383英里。
Humpback whale seen grieving dead calf in rare footage: “Heartbreaking to watch”
September 16, 2026 / 1:55 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
A female humpback whale has been documented apparently grieving a stillborn calf in new research released Wednesday, offering rare insights into the complex emotions of the sea-dwelling mammals.
The footage, taken off Australia’s Gold Coast last year, shows a female humpback whale staying close to the dead calf as it lies motionless on the seafloor.
Accompanied by a companion, the whale holds eye contact with the animal, touching it with its head and fin.
“At first sight, I thought it was just two whales resting on the surface, but their behaviour was unusual,” said Andrew Mulville from Sea World Foundation, who witnessed the heart-wrenching moment.
“It was definitely not what I was expecting to see out at sea that day.”
Researchers said the whale had stayed with the deceased animal for “several hours and possibly even days.”
“It’s really sad,” Olaf Meynecke of Griffith University’s Whales and Climate Research Program told AFP. “It’s pretty heartbreaking to watch this female making continuous contact with the deceased calf.”
A female humpback whale has been documented apparently grieving a stillborn calf in new research released Sept. 16, 2026. Meynecke, JO., Mulville, A. First documentation of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) post-mortem attendance of a stillborn. Discover Animals.
A number of other deceased whale calves were observed in the area at the time, the researchers said.
blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/68463dfa-b93b-4200-989e-d6ecf58c7e2c
“To our knowledge, this is the first detailed, documented occurrence of this behaviour for this species,” the researchers wrote.
The whale did not try and bring the calf to the surface, suggesting “she might have been aware that it was dead shortly after giving birth,” they said.
Researchers said the whale’s actions “may represent a form of grief-related behaviour in humpback whales.”
Meynecke said his research spoke to the “strong bond” between mother and calf and the emotional stages that “socially complex” mammals go through following the deaths of their offspring or companions.
The study was published Wednesday in Discover Animals.
Marine mammals have exhibited similar behavior before. An orca that made headlines in 2018 after she carried her dead calf for more than two weeks was again spotted last year carrying the body of her newborn, just days after researchers confirmed she’d given birth.
Whales are far from the first non-human mammals to have been observed engaging in complex grieving rituals, he said.
“We’re seeing this from elephants and apes and cases like that that are also extremely heartbreaking,” Meynecke said. “But on land we witness this more often, whereas at sea it’s really rare to document something like this.”
The footage was unveiled about two months after a photographer in Australia captured a humpback whale giving birth in what is believed to be the first time such a birth has been recorded by a drone.
In May, researchers announced that they had documented two humpback whales swimming a record-breaking distance between breeding grounds. According to the study, one of the whales was seen off the coast of Bahia in Brazil before being sighted 22 years later at a breeding ground in Hervey Bay, Australia, about 9,383 miles away.
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