Scientists think blue whales may breed in the waters around the Seychelles

Blue whales: Ocean giants return to ‘safe’ tropical haven

By Victoria Gill and Kate Stephens

Science team, BBC News

Blue whales – the largest animals on Earth – are making their home in a part of the Indian Ocean where they were wiped out by whaling decades ago.

Researchers and filmmakers in the Seychelles captured footage of the whales in 2020 and 2021. It features in the Imax film Blue Whales 3D.

But a year of underwater audio recording revealed the animals spend months in the region.

This means they could be breeding there, scientists say.

The researchers, including scientists from the University of Seychelles, described the discovery as a “conservation win” after the Soviet whaling fleet decimated the population in the 1960s.

One of the lead investigators, Dr Kate Stafford, told BBC News: “It turns out if you stop killing animals on mass scales and you give them a chance to rebound, they can recover.”

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Blue whales: Ocean giants return to ‘safe’ tropical haven – BBC News

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