First-time right whale mother “Check Mark” seen with calf

18-year-old Check Mark was spotted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with her very first calf on January 17, 2025. This sighting marks the seventh right whale calf recorded for the 2024-2025 calving season, which runs from December to March. 

Check Mark was born in 2007 to her mother, Smoke, and father, Velcro, making her 18 years old. Scientists at New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life have found that Check Mark is part of a well-known family tree – she has more than 25 documented relatives including her grandparents, great grandparents, and six siblings.  

Over her 18 years of life, she has survived three entanglements and a boat strike – the latter of which gave Check Mark her name. She was just six years old when she was hit by a boat and lost a large part of her tail, and what remained resembled a check mark.

The rest of her family has not been so lucky. Check Mark lost a brother and niece to boat strikes, and another brother to an entanglement. With just 370 right whales left in the wild, each of these deaths is heartbreaking to the population.

Check Mark waited until nearly 20 years old to have her first calf, and is a perfect example of how environmental stressors are not only killing right whales but also affecting their reproduction. Right whales sexually mature around the age of 10, but because of stress caused by entanglements and boat strikes, many female right whales are delaying their pregnancies until they are much older. The stress also affects how frequently they give birth – instead of getting pregnant every three years, female right whales are having babies every 6-10 years. These delays in reproduction make it even more difficult for the population to recover.  

But a new calf is still good news, and we are excited for Check Mark to start her journey into motherhood. We hope Check Mark shares her wisdom and survival skills with her new baby.