Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’

Southern right whales had recovered in recent decades after being hunted to near extinction in the 19th and 20th centuries, but now scientists say the climate crisis is bringing birth rates down. Photograph: Permit Number M26085-13/Richard Twist/Current Environmental

After decades of recovery, southern right whales are showing signs of a climate-driven decline in breeding rates, which scientists say is a “warning signal” about changes in the Southern Ocean.

After being hunted to near extinction by commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries, southern right whales remained endangered in Australia.