The famous mother killer whale still carries the body of her second calf

A mother killer whale whose calf died more than two weeks ago was seen recently off the coast of Victoria, still carrying the carcass of her newborn.

The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research (CWR) spotted the Southern Resident orca, named Tahlequah, or J35, on January 10, nine days after she was first seen pushing her dead calf.

This is the same orca that made headlines in 2018 when it spent 17 days carrying its first hatchling that died in the same way.

On Facebook Thursday, the center said J35 was seen next to another killer whale in her pod and that they were not far from other members of the J pod. They were between Vancouver Island and San Juan Island, Washington State.

According to the message, observers didn’t see much of the carcass […] but J35 seemed to be trying to stop it from sinking.

Worrying health

According to researchers, Tahleequah’s behavior is an apparent act of mourning, and that J35 has now lost two of her four documented calves.

The new female calf was spotted on December 21. She would have died around New Year’s Eve

J35 was then seen on January 1 dragging the carcass of her calf which was on her head.

At a press conference, experts said they were concerned about J35’s health.

This manifests itself as much greater drag [lorsqu’elle nage]and its energy expenditure will therefore be quite significantsaid Brad Hanson, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

He said this can make foraging difficult at a time of year when fish availability is more limited.

The center says another newborn, first observed on December 30 and described as J41’s baby, was spotted on January 10.

Il seemed healthy.

With information from The Canadian Press