Orca mom is carrying a dead calf for the second time, raising concerns among scientists

By Julianna Bragg, CNN

(CNN) — Tahlequah, the mother orca denoted as J35 who captured hearts worldwide in 2018 by carrying her dead calf for 17 days and over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), is once again displaying a similar act of mourning.

Her newest calf, a female known as J61 to researchers, was first spotted on December 20 in the Puget Sound area on Washington state’s northwest coast by members of the public. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration later confirmed the sighting on December 23, according to Dr. Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research. Tragically, by New Year’s Eve, the calf was confirmed dead, he said.

Researchers have reported as of January 5 that Tahlequah is still carrying the calf, said Dr. Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of NOAA. Updates regarding the mother’s activity with J61 may become limited as her family group, or pod, departs from its main Puget Sound base.

Tahlequah is constantly nudging the deceased calf’s body, which weighs around 300 pounds (136 kilograms), with her snout to keep it close and prevent the ocean from pulling the carcass away.

“As with last time, I think it’s enough to recognize how strong the mother-calf bond is in killer whales (among the strongest social relationships in any animal), and to see that she is clearly not ready to let go,” Weiss, whose doctoral research focused on orca social structure, said via email.

The loss of a calf is not only devastating to Tahlequah but for the rapidly declining population of Southern Resident orcas, which is teetering on the brink of extinction with only 73 of the marine mammals remaining as of 2019.

The Southern Resident population is noted as “one of the most critically endangered populations of marine mammals” in the United States, according to researchers.

Deep mourning by an orca mother

This act of grief raises concerns among researchers, including Weiss and Hanson, for its physical and emotional toll on Tahlequah as a member of the highly vulnerable Southern Resident population. Carrying the extra weight of the calf’s body is both weighing down the mother and slowing her movements, which could impact her ability to forage for food.

However, Weiss noted that during the orca’s previous 17-day display of grief, there was no visible decline in her condition, which could signal that other members of her pod were helping her receive her food supply.

While some female killer whales have been known to grieve the loss of their calves in ways similar to Tahlequah, the distance and time that she carried her newborn in 2018 made her an exception. Her current behavior, mirroring her past actions, is also unusual, according to Weiss.

Tahlequah is known to be the mother of another orca, J47, who is now around 14 years old, and also J57, a baby born two years after her 2018 loss.

Killer whales typically reproduce every five years, giving the mother time to recover from the physical demands of pregnancy and giving birth, Hanson said.

While no significant data are available to suggest why Tahlequah may have lost two calves within her lifetime, orca pregnancies are fraught with challenges. Nearly 70% of pregnancies in the Southern Resident orca population, which Tahlequah and her offspring belong to, result in spontaneous abortions or very early deaths, Weiss said.

Challenges faced by Southern Resident orcas

Unsuccessful pregnancies and struggles for survival within exclusively fish-eating killer whale communities in the northeast Pacific Ocean can be attributed to challenges from pollutants, noise, inbreeding and a lack of Chinook salmon, which is their primary food source, Weiss said.

The loss of a female calf like J61 is particularly harmful to the species’ future because it diminishes the population’s ability for reproduction.

“Assuming (orcas) live a full lifespan, you’re looking at them producing five to six calves under ideal conditions, and part of the problem is that most of the females in this population have not produced that many viable calves,” Hanson said.

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