After largely recovering from decades of overhunting, one of the most iconic whale species may be at risk from climate change, as warming waters could force it away from its traditional breeding grounds in the tropics.

According to a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, projected sea surface temperature increases mean that many humpback whale breeding areas would no longer be within their historic temperature range by century’s end. Combined with warming of their feeding grounds, as well as the impacts from other human activities, such changes may mean that, even after years of recovery, humpbacks’ future remains far from secure.

Perhaps the most familiar of the great whales, with long pectoral fins and