A 12-year-old boy has captured the incredible moment a whale appears to teach its calf how to breathe.

Western Australian boy Zac Humski was with his family on a boat about 10km off the coast of Yanchep, north of Perth‘s CBD, when they heard the spray of whales.

The accredited drone pilot quickly launched his drone and found a mother humpback whale with her calf.

Zac followed the pair and caught the beautiful interaction between a mother and her baby.

Footage shows the mother calf carrying her calf on her nose as they swim just under the surface of the water.

The whale is seen breaking the surface and letting out air creating a cloud of mist known as a blow before using its nose to gently push its calf to the surface.

The calf is then seen taking in air through its blowhole before diving back down into the water.

Zac’s dad, Steven, was piloting the boat and told Daily Mail Australia the day turned into something ‘very special’ when they spotted the whales.

‘A quiet day of fishing turned into something very special when we heard the spray of the whales,’ Mr Humski said.

‘We kept our distance and Zac excitedly launched the drone… no fish were caught but Zac was overcome with joy and will never forget this experience.’

Zac’s mum, Kim said she and her son believe the calf was very young and was being taught how to breathe and swim.

‘The mother and baby hung around for ages,’ she told PerthNow.

‘The mother was carrying the baby on her nose, so we believe it was a very young baby learning to breathe and swim.’

Kim said her son followed the whales with his drone and was overcome with emotion.

‘Zac said that he doesn’t often get emotional about nature, but he was overcome seeing the whales!’ she said.

Zac shared his incredible footage on his Droning DownUnder Facebook and Instagram accounts, garnering more than 1,300 likes on his photographs.

Humpback whales are able to swim from the moment they are born, with most mothers pushing their calf to the surface for its first breaths.

Mothers will spend months or even years raising their young, remaining close by as their calves learn to move through the water.

The largest humpback migration in the southern hemisphere happens in Western Australia between June and November.

The annual migration sees approximately 40,000 whales travel the ‘Humpback Highway’ from summer feeding grounds in Antarctica to breeding grounds in the nearshore waters of the Kimberley region.

Humpback whales can grow up to around 18 metres long and weigh up to 36 metric tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

A female humpback has a calf every two to three years and has a year-long gestation period, with a newborn humpback already three metres long at birth.