This is the first time the highly-endangered species has been found in UAE waters…

Whale watchers were given a treat earlier today, when it was announced that an Arabian humpback whale was spotted swimming 1km off the coast of Dubai with her calf in tow.

The highly-endangered species is rarely ever seen this close to land, and this is the first time one has been found in UAE waters. The mother and calf were reportedly filmed by a local resident who posted the video to Instagram.

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Marine biologist Robert Baldwin told state news agency WAM: “Information we are gathering from these whales is providing us with invaluable knowledge about the isolation of the species in a remote corner of our oceans and giving us scientific signposts towards their future survival in a rapidly developing region,”

Arabian humpbacks differ to other whales by the fact that they tend to be more solitary, choosing to not migrate between polar feeding grounds and warm tropical seas in favour of permanently living the waters off the Arabian peninsula. There are less than 100 Arabian humpbacks thought left to be living in the wild. 

While whale sightings are pretty uncommon around these parts, a pair of Orcas were caught on video swimming near the Musandam Peninsula earlier this year:

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Images: WAM