“The mother orca nudges the dead body of her calf with her snout, hugs it all with her head, nibbles on its tiny dorsal fin – all to delay the inevitable,” écrit The New York Times on January 2. Just like in 2018, when she carried the lifeless body of her newborn for seventeen days and 1,500 kilometers, Tahlequah, also known by her scientific code name J35, is once again in mourning. For several days, scientists have been following it in the Puget Sound estuary, in Washington state.
It all started with good news on Christmas Eve, says The Seattle Times. After losing a little one in 2018, Tahlequah, around 25 years old, had just given birth again – she already has two sons. “But a week later, scientists discovered that the baby orca was dead.” And since then, the mother has clung to it desperately. In a video recorded Wednesday 1is January and put online by the Seattle Times, “she is seen diving again and again, her child’s tiny fin pointing toward West Seattle.”
Social animals
The team following her is all the more worried that Tahlequah is spending all her energy taking care of her little one without eating.
Belgium
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