A baby Southern Right Whale returned for its mother and prodded her back into the icy South Atlantic Ocean after the two were beached on Argentina's rocky Patagonian shores, an environmentalist said yesterday.
The two whales, members of a threatened species, landed on shore on Monday night in the Patagonian province of Chubut after swimming into a rocky bay. They were trapped when the tide went out, Mr Adrian Contreras of the Patagonia Nature Foundation said.
It was fishermen who first noticed the 33-foot and 46-foot whales and kept their rough skin wet with buckets of sea water until more volunteers arrived.
When high tide returned, the calf was able to swim out, but soon returned for its 40-ton mother, prodding her with its head and bumping it with its tail in hopes of awakening her.
"It was pushing the mother, telling it something like `come on, don't stay behind'," Mr Contreras said. By early Tuesday, the two were able to swim back into the water with only minor bruises.