Having a whale of a time! Drone captures footage of albino calf playing with his mother off the South African coast
- Anton Schutte, 42, from Cape Town captured the footage in Hermanus
- The southern right whale normally it has dark grey or black skin, with occasional white patches on the belly
- Albino animals fare poorly in wild because predators easily spot them
Rare footage of an albino whale playing with its dark grey mother has been captured off the coast of South Africa.
Hovering off the coast of the Western Cape, the drone flies above the waves to zoom in on a southern right whale splashing and rolling around in the sea.
Anton Schutte, 42, from Cape Town, South Africa, captured the impressive footage in Hermanus.
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Splashing about: Hovering off the coast of the Western Cape, the drone flies above the waves to zoom in on a southern right whale splashing and rolling around in the sea with his mother (pictured)
He said: 'I was initially flying from shore in a different location when I got chatting to a curious tourist that was visiting who took my number to keep in contact.
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'He phoned me about two hours later to tell me there was an albino calf and its mother in another part of the bay.
'I then hurried across town and launch my craft. Naturally, I was ecstatic to see them still there, only about 700m (2,300ft) from the shore!
'Any time that someone gets to be in the presence of these magnificent creatures, it is a truly life changing experience.
The southern right whale is a baleen whale - a whale that filters plankton from the water - and is one of three species classified as right whales. Normally it has very dark grey or black skin (albino whale pictured)
'It sticks with you forever and seeing them from the drone prospective is a whole new amazing experience.'
The southern right whale is a baleen whale - a whale that filters plankton from the water.
The species is easily distinguished by its broad back without a dorsal fin, wide pectoral fins, a long arching mouth that begins above the eye and small rough patches of skin - or callosities - on its large head.
They have an enormous head which can be up to one quarter of total body length. Its two separate blow holes produce a distinguishing V-shaped blow.
Normally it has very dark grey or black skin, with occasional white patches on the belly.
The callosities on the head are made of hard material, similar to human fingernails, which appear white due to large colonies of whale lice called cyamids.
Southern right whales tend to have a large callosity at the front of the head, called a ‘bonnet’.
According to scientists, only around two per cent of whales born each year are albino.
Every animal that makes melanin - skin pigment - has the potential to produce albino offspring.
Albino animals tend to fare poorly in the wild because predators are able to spot them easily. In some cases, families and social groups can exclude them because they look foreign.
On average, albinism occurs once in every 10,000 mammal births. The condition is much more common in birds, however, occurring once in every 1,764 births.
The southern right whale is a baleen whale - a whale that filters plankton from the water (stock image pictured)
Albino animals tend to fare poorly in the wild because predators are able to spot them easily. In some cases, families and social groups can exclude them because they look foreign (albino whale with mother pictured)
Rare: According to scientists, only around two per cent of whales born each year are albino
Anton Schutte (pictured), 42, from Cape Town, South Africa, captured the impressive footage in Hermanus
DRONE FOOTAGE CAPTURES BABY KILLER WHALE NURSING
Marine biologists have captured drone footage of a killer whale nursing its infant.
The tender moment, clearly showing a calf suckling, was captured off the San Juan Islands, North of Seattle.
The first-time mother, known only as L91 was feeding her newborn known as L122, just days after being born.
The tender moment, clearly shows a calf suckling, and was captured off the San Juan Islands, North of Seattle
Numbers of the Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) are critical - there are only 81 left in the wild - but there has been a baby boom in the region with five born this year alone.
This group of killer whales represent the smallest of four resident communities within the eastern North Pacific Ocean and it is the only killer whale population listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The world's oldest known killer whale, known as Granny or J2, belongs one of the SRKW pods, and it is believed she was born in 1911.
Shortly after birth, a killer whale mother will feed her calf milk from her nipple which is concealed in abdominal mammary slits.
Most killer whales will nurse for a year after birth but some will occasionally feed for up to two.
Calves nurse below water, close to the surface.
The mother glides in a horizontal position with her tail arched, and the calf swims on its side with its mouth on the right or left mammary gland.
The milk is typically thick - similar to the consistency of toothpaste - because if it was too thin it would dissipate into the surrounding water.
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