PORTLAND, Maine – A 15,000-pound (6,804-kilogram) baby whale might seem impossible to overlook. Yet scientists tracking one of the world’s rarest whales went months without realizing this calf was out there—and they are thrilled by the surprise.
Researchers in Canada photographed an unidentified North Atlantic right whale calf near Quebec’s Anticosti Island in September. After reviewing the images and comparing them with existing right whale records, scientists at Boston’s New England Aquarium said this week that the animal was likely born months earlier and escaped detection during winter surveys.
The discovery brings the number of calves identified from the latest birthing season to 24—the species’ most productive year since 2009 and its fourth-highest total on record, according to the aquarium. Only about 380 North Atlantic right whales remain worldwide, and the population has declined since 2010.
The calf was traveling with its mother, a 38-year-old whale known to researchers as Silt. North Atlantic right whales typically give birth off the southeastern U.S. during winter, then migrate north toward New England and Canada to feed.
Because so few right whales remain, researchers maintain extensive photographic catalogs to identify and monitor them. Missing a calf is unusual, making the late discovery especially welcome, said Amy Warren, a scientist at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center.
“Silt was briefly seen in the southeastern U.S. calving grounds in February 2026, so it’s possible she had the calf there but snuck away before they were documented together. This is an exciting discovery for us so late in the year,” Warren said.
Scientists closely monitor North Atlantic right whale births because the critically small population depends on successful calving seasons to survive. Just about 70 reproductive-age females remain, and the species has produced 20 or more calves in a season only a handful of times since 2010.
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The population began to fall that year, declining by roughly 25% between 2010 and 2020. The whales face deadly collisions with large ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. Ocean warming has intensified those dangers by pushing the whales beyond protected areas, scientists say. In 2018, the species endured a particularly devastating season when not a single calf was born.
The past few years have offered cautious hope, with the population recovering some of its losses since 2020. Conservation groups, however, have criticized recent U.S. government decisions to postpone new right whale protections for a decade, saying the policy favors commercial fishing interests.
Researchers from the Mingan Island Cetacean Study, a nonprofit organization based in Quebec’s coastal Côte-Nord region, first spotted the calf off Anticosti Island. The animal went undetected during boat and aerial surveys conducted along the U.S. East Coast throughout the spring and summer, the New England Aquarium said.
Richard Sears, founder and director of Mingan Island Cetacean Study, said scientists are celebrating the calf’s addition to an unusually strong breeding season for the endangered whales.
“It just goes to show you how big the ocean is, and how those animals can get lost out there,” he said.
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