Shared Moment: Safe Passage

A whale mother and her calf on an epic trek

• Photograph by Douglas Croft
• PhotoZone
• Dec 01, 2019

GLIDING THROUGH A FOREST of giant kelp, a gray whale cow and her calf grace the coast of Big Sur, California. After calves are born in Baja California, mothers lead them more than 5,000 miles north to Alaskan feeding grounds then head south again—one of the longest round-trip mammal migrations. “It’s humbling to watch these animals swim by,” says Douglas Croft, who sat on a cliff to make this image, an honorable mention in our 2019 photo contest. Nearly hunted to extinction, gray whales in this region have rebounded. “People caught on that it’s better to protect these beautiful creatures,” says Croft.

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