An endangered orca in Washington state was recently spotted carrying her deceased newborn calf in a heartbreaking display of maternal grief.
The whale, known as J36, was observed pushing the lifeless calf in Rosario Strait, part of the Salish Sea in the San Juan Islands. Researchers from the Center for Whale Research, Sea Doc Society, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance confirmed the calf’s death, noting that it still had its umbilical cord attached.
Calf mortality is a significant issue among orcas, particularly for the endangered Southern Resident population that frequents the waters between Washington state and Canada. These killer whales have faced challenges such as a decline in their preferred prey, Chinook salmon, as well as the impacts of pollution and vessel noise on their hunting abilities. With only 73 whales remaining in the Southern Resident population, every loss is a blow to their already fragile numbers.
This event echoes a similar incident involving another Southern Resident orca, Tahlequah (J35), who garnered global attention in 2018 for carrying her dead calf for an astonishing 1,000 miles over 17 days. The circumstances surrounding J36’s calf remain unclear, but based on previous observations, the calf would have been no more than three days old at the time of its discovery.