The North Atlantic Right Whale Baby Boom Is On—but the Species Remains Endangered
Almost after midnight decades later, the baby whale returned—as a mother, with a baby of her own. Julie Albert, director of the Right Whale Sighting Network at the Blue World Research Institute, a non-profit organization, first laid eyes on the North Atlantic right whale known as Callosity Back in 2007 when it was just a calf, swimming off the coast of Florida.
Soon, he says, the whale stood out. Like other North Atlantic right whales, it had callosities—thick, white, rough patches on its skin. But unlike any other known whale, this one had those markings on its back.
“That’s how he got his name,” said Albert. “You’re definitely one of a kind.” Then on New Year’s Eve 2025, Callosity Back returned to Florida. A call came in from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission saying an unidentified whale and its calf had been spotted off the state’s east coast. Albert explains how he and his colleagues ran to the swimming pool behind the hotel near the beach to get a better view and soon realized it was Callosity Back.
“I have been waiting 19 years to see this mother,” said Albert. Whale watchers—occasionally hotel guests—watched the mother-calf pair swim for hours, until it finally got dark.
Callosity Back’s calf is one of 21 young right whales recorded at the time of writing during the current spawning season, which runs from mid-November to mid-April. It is unusual to see so many of these whales born so quickly in one season. Researchers counted only 11 last year, for example.
By 2024, only 384 North Atlantic right whales will remain in the wild, according to an estimate published last October. The species used to number in the thousands, before commercial whaling nearly wiped out the species during the 18th and 19th centuries. North Atlantic right whales have never recovered and are now on the brink of extinction.
The baby’s growth is good news, said Albert. But it does not change the image of these animals, which are always in great danger. A series of collisions with ships, or entanglement with fishing gear, can easily kill the right whales of the North Atlantic to change the fortunes of the animals in another direction, as happened in 2017, when 18 whales died during a period of just six months. That year also saw the tragic death of whale rescuer Joe Howlett, who was killed after cutting fishing lines on a North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
People who watch and protect right whales, and who do not know the stories of these animals in detail, will tell you that a chain of calves, although impressive in itself, does not guarantee the longevity of this species. But right whales still have to be fought for, conservationists say, because their small population could pop up again—if they get the chance.
Callosity Back was born alive. Her mother is one of only two North Atlantic right whales to have given birth in the cold waters of the northeast, far from the usual calving grounds of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. (Right whale calves are born without blubber, meaning exposure to cold water in the first weeks of life can kill them.)
Currently, researchers are continuing to look for newborn whales, and were surprised by these 21 arrivals. “In the 1980s and 1990s we were over 18 maybe a few times, to give that context,” said Phil Hamilton, chief scientist at the New England Aquarium. “I hope that number can increase.”
