Written by Linda V. Mapes
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
In a day of sadness and surprise, Puget Sound researchers discovered Tuesday that the new calf, J61, born to mother killer whale Tahlequah did not survive, and that a new calf was also born from the J pod. did.
Brad Hanson, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Region in Seattle, heard the news while out at sea with other researchers to study the health of endangered southern killer whales. Confirmed.
Tahlequah’s new calf was especially important because it was female. This birth also had symbolic meaning for this region. Tahlequah is the mother killer whale who caused grief around the world in 2018 when she carried her baby, which lasted only 30 minutes, on a journey of more than 1,000 miles and 17 days.
The mother and sex of the new calf have not yet been confirmed.
Baby killer whales always face long survival odds. Tahlequah’s calf seemed to be having trouble from the start, with the mother pushing and carrying the calf frequently and the baby not seeming as energetic as expected, the Tahlequah calf said last week. Hanson said after seeing it.
Southern residents are killer whales that frequent Puget Sound. The killer whale family lives in pods J, K, and L, and with only 73 members left, they are on the brink of extinction.
They face many threats, including a shortage of salmon, especially chinook. Too much boat noise and disturbance makes hunting difficult. and food contamination.
It was a difficult day for scientists working to trace the recovery of southern residents who have overcome many hardships.
“Three of the four of us were on the boat last week and we were all very concerned about its viability at the time,” Hanson wrote in an email about J61.
“So today’s observation wasn’t a complete surprise, but knowing the history of J35 (Tahlequah) as well as knowing what the loss of a female would mean for SRKW’s potential. The general feeling was one of deep sadness as the (southern resident killer whale) recovered.”
2024 Seattle Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Citation: Orca Tahlequah Newborn Dies (January 3, 2025), Retrieved January 3, 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-01-orca-tahlequah-baby-dies.html
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