The orca Tahlequah, who refused to abandon her baby, is in mourning again

ANIMALS – She had already made headlines in 2018 for carrying around the lifeless body of her deceased calf for days. The orca named Tahlequah lost a calf again on January 1 and appears to be repeating her previous display of grief, many British media outlets report, including the Guardian et BBC news.

Tahlequah, also referred to by researchers as J35, was spotted off the coast of Seattle, Washington state, in the northwest United States, the Center for Whale Research says. This center, which fights for the conservation of this endangered species in the south of the country, declared that the death of this new little one was “particularly devastating” given Tahlequah's history.

“Emotional” animals with “very strong family bonds”

Furthermore, the baby was female, “who could have one day potentially led his own matrilineage”regrets the CWR, as you can read in the Facebook post below.

“We know that orcas are very intelligent, emotional and have very strong family bonds. Seeing her carry this other little dead one as she did in 2018 (…) shows that she is in mourning, it’s a difficult loss”reacted on X Tamara Kelley who works at Orca Conservancy, an association also protecting these marine mammals.

A mourning “ record » 17 days in 2018

Orcas are known to carry the bodies of their dead calves for up to a week. But scientists indicated seven years ago that Tahlequah had just established a « record » in this matter, by carrying his deceased offspring for 17 days over 1,600 km.

Seven years later, on Christmas Eve, the CWR confirmed that Tahlequah had given birth to a new female calf, J61. But quickly, scientists became concerned about his health, due to his behavior during the first days of his life. “The calf was observed being pushed with its head by J35 and did not appear lively, which is concerning”then underlined Orca Conservancy on X.

Canada and the United States consider southern resident orcas an endangered species. These cetaceans feed on king salmon, the number of which has declined considerably in recent years, recalls the BBC. Reproductive failures are linked to nutrition and access to these salmon, according to research led by the University of Washington.

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