After almost two decades, the baby whale returned—as a mother, with a child of her own. Julie Albert, director of the Right Whale Sighting Network at the Blue World Research Institute, a nonprofit, first saw the North Atlantic right whale known as Callosity Back in 2007 when it was a calf, swimming off the coast of Florida.

Immediately, he said, the whale stood up. Like other North Atlantic right whales, it has callosities—patches of thick, white, rough tissue on its skin. But unlike other known right whales, this one has markings on its back.

“That’s his name,” said Albert. “He’s an individual.” Then, on New Year’s Eve 2025, Callosity Back returns to Florida. A call from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to say an unidentified whale and her calf have been spotted off the state’s east coast. Albert described how he and his colleagues raced to the pool deck behind a nearby beach hotel to get a good look and soon realized it was Callosity Back.

“I have been waiting 19 years to see this mother,” said Albert. Whale watchers—sometimes accompanied by hotel guests—watched the mother and calf pair swim for hours, until darkness finally fell.

Callosity Back’s calf is just one of the 21 baby right whales documented at the time of writing during the current spawning season, which lasts from mid-November to mid-April. It’s amazing to see so many of these whales born so early in one season. Researchers counted only 11 last year, for example.

In 2024, there will be only 384 North Atlantic right whales left in the wild overall, according to an estimate published last October. The species used in the number of many thousandsbefore commercial whaling nearly wiped out these animals in the 18th and 19th centuries. Right whales in the North Atlantic have not recovered and are now on the brink of extinction.

The baby boom is good news, said Albert. But this does not change the general picture for these animals, which remain in great danger. A series of ship collisions, or entanglements in fishing gear, can easily kill enough right whales in the North Atlantic to reverse the species’ wealth otherwise, as happened in 2017when 18 right whales died in just six months. That year also saw the tragic death of whale rescuer Joe Howlettwho was killed after cutting the fishing lines of the North Atlantic right whale in Gulf of St. Lawrence.

People who monitor and protect whales properly, and know the stories of these animals in great detail, will tell you that an influx of calves, although amazing in itself, does not guarantee the long-term survival of the species. But right whales are still worth fighting for, conservationists say, because their small populations can grow again—if given the chance.

Callosity Back was born a survivor. His mother is one of only two North Atlantic right whales documented to give birth in frigid northeastern waters, far from the usual calving grounds in 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 continue to monitor the newborn right whaleand was surprised by 21 new arrivals. “In the 1980s and 1990s we only got over 18 maybe a few times, to give that some context,” said Phil Hamilton, senior scientist at the New England Aquarium. “I expect that number to increase.”