A grieving orca carried her dead calf for 17 days in 2018. Now she's again carrying the body of her latest child.
An orca who made headlines in 2018 after she carried her dead calf for more than two weeks was again spotted carrying the body of her newborn, just days after researchers confirmed she'd given birth.
J35, a southern resident killer whale also known as Tahlequah, carried her child's body on her head for 17 days across a distance of 1,000 miles in 2018, according to the Center for Whale Research. In December, the center determined Tahlequah had given birth again, identifying the newborn girl as J61.
"New Year's Eve 2024 was a day of extreme highs and lows," the center wrote in a Wednesday social media post. "We have confirmation of another new calf in J pod, but sadly, this was combined with the devastating news that J61 has not survived."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it believes J61 only lived about a week and has been dead for a few days.
While it's not common, J35 isn't the only whale to have carried a dead calf, Dr. Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research told CBS News.
"What made J35's case in 2018 unusual was how long she carried the calf for," Weiss said. "It's interesting that it's the same whale doing this behavior again; it does seem to suggest that there's something about her as an individual that makes this behavior more prominent. We don't know what that would be."
In 2020, experts were excited when J35 gave birth to another calf because up to 70% of orca pregnancies end with either a miscarriage or a calf that dies shortly after birth.
But after J35 gave birth to J61 late last year, the Center for Whale Research said last month it was worried for the calf's health based on the behavior of both the calf and the mother.
"Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year," the center, which tracks southern resident orca populations in the Pacific Northwest, wrote in a social media post.
The Center for Whale Research did not specify what sparked the concern, but the Seattle-based Orca Conservancy wrote on social media last year that researchers believed J61 was born prematurely. Orca Conservancy said at the time that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed the baby "remaining underwater for extended amounts of time indicating nursing or attempts to nurse."
The Center for Whale Research did share the good news that the newborn calf spotted on New Year's Eve "appeared physically and behaviorally normal." The new calf has been identified as J62. Researchers do not yet know J62's gender or who J62's mother is.
Southern resident killer whales are the only endangered population of killer whales in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There were 72 southern resident killer whales counted during the 2020 census, though several calves have been born since then. A recovery plan was completed in 2008, but the population continues to struggle and has declined over 10% since 2005.
"The Southern Resident killer whale population needs ample access to their food supply, mainly salmon, to survive and thrive," the Center for Whale Research wrote in a Facebook post. "Every single birth counts and these whales need enough fish to be able to support themselves and their calves. We continue to advocate for salmon recovery through habitat restoration, removal of dams, and rational management of fisheries in the Pacific Northwest."
