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Once again, an endangered in Washington state has been seen carrying her dead newborn calf in what appears to be an effort to revive it.
Researchers with the , Sea Doc Society and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said they received reports on Friday that the whale — identified as J36 — was pushing the dead calf in Rosario Strait, part of the Salish Sea in the San Juan Islands. They were able to confirm that the female calf, which still had its umbilical cord attached, was deceased.
"Based on the size of the calf, we estimate that the calf was either full term or near full term," the Center for Whale Research said in a social media post. "We will share more when we can, and work with the other research teams to piece together what information we can about this calf and J36's status."
After conducting initial documentation and measurement, researchers said it wasn't clear if J36's calf had been born alive. Based on prior observations of the whale, the calf would have been no more than three days old when it was spotted dead on Friday.
Calf mortality is always high among orcas, but the endangered population of killer whales that frequent the marine waters between Washington state and Canada has especially struggled in recent decades due to , Chinook salmon, as well as pollution and vessel noise that interferes with their hunting. There are 73 whales remaining in the so-called Southern Resident population.
Early this year, another Southern Resident orca — known as , or J35 — was observed carrying the body of a deceased newborn. Tahlequah to another calf in 2020. Experts at the time described it as big news, because up to 70% of orca pregnancies end with either a miscarriage or a calf that dies shortly after birth. Tahlequah made global headlines in 2018 for for more than 1,000 miles over 17 days.
It's not known why some orcas like Tahlequah and J36 carry their dead young, but we do know that killer whales "are wired for all of the complicated emotions that come alongside close-knit group living," Monika Wieland Shields, the director of Orca Behavior Institute, wrote in a blog post in January.
