In a scientific first, hump back whales have been recorded having sex and the intimate encounter was between two males.
Photographers on a boat captured the images off the coast of Hawaii in January 2022 and then sought advice from scientists about what the whales were actually up to.
It turns out, the snappers had recorded something remarkable, because despite being studied for decades, the sexual behaviour of humpback whales remained mostly a mystery.
The details have been laid bare in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
Stephanie Stack, the lead author of the paper and a whale researcher with the Pacific Whale Foundation, speaks to Lisa Owen.
