Orca mother grieving loss of newborn now carrying second calf’s body

Nearly six years ago, a mother orca attracted international attention when she carried a dead calf for 17 days straight. Sadly, the whale now appears to be repeating what researchers say is an expression of grief over another deceased newborn.

The mother whale, also known as J35 or Tahlequah, was first spotted with her new calf on December 20th. But on Wednesday, researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photographed a whale with a dead calf on its head off the coast of West Seattle.

“We can confirm that J31 lost the calf and was pushing it around on its head,” Brad Hanson, a researcher at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said in a press conference Thursday.

He said that when the calf is about to sink, “she seems to do a high arch dive to retrieve the calf, but at that point you can’t really tell if she’s pushing or grabbing the calf.” added. ”

Scientists said they believe Tahlequah likely carried the dead calf as an expression of grief. Whales have a similar wiring structure to humans and other large, long-lived social mammals, Joe Gaydos, scientific director of the Sea Dog Society, an ocean research organization, said at a press conference.

“We have the same neurotransmitters as they do. We have the same hormones as they do. Shouldn’t we have the same emotions that they have? We are a market cornered by emotions.” So I think it’s fair to say she’s sad or grieving,” Gaydos said, adding that similar behavior has been observed in dolphins and non-human primates. added.

J35 is part of an endangered subpopulation of whales known as southern killer whales. The death of Tahlequah’s calf and the recent birth of another killer whale left the group at just 73 individuals.

Over the years, Tahlequah has had two surviving calves, both male, one born in 2020.

Southerners have been given tracking numbers by the Center for Whale Research and are closely watched by researchers, photographers and whale watchers, especially if they are near Puget Sound communities like Seattle.

Scientists have been following the story of the dead calf for weeks. Hanson said NOAA researchers discovered the female calf themselves on Dec. 23 after a citizen scientist first noticed the female calf, called J61. They were concerned about the calf’s health at the time because it appeared to be struggling and surfacing unusually, he said.

It is not uncommon for orca pups to die shortly after birth. Michael Weiss, director of research at the Center for Whale Research, said the first year of life is the biggest hurdle to survival.

Approximately 70% to 80% of calves that researchers can record and give identification numbers survive the first few years.

“We don’t know exactly what the survival rate is, probably because so many calves are born and die before they are photographed or recorded,” Weiss says. “Probably 50 percent of calves born will survive the first year.”

NOAA researchers said they are now concerned about Tahlequah’s own health because pushing his calves creates a lot of resistance in the water and requires a lot of energy.

“One thing she probably doesn’t have time for is feeding,” Hanson said. “We are concerned that she is expending so much energy caring for her lost calf.”

This is a typical calving season for southern whales. Hanson said researchers were encouraged by the birth of another killer whale, called J62. The orca was first spotted by observers on Dec. 30 and confirmed by the Cetacean Research Center on New Year’s Day.

“It appears to be very robust,” Hanson said.

Southern killer whales have been the subject of conservation efforts for decades. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and were listed as endangered in 2005.

Whales typically spend several months each year along the Puget Sound coastline in Washington state. They live in three pods called J, K, and L, and have evolved to eat primarily fish, including the prized Chinook salmon.

In the early 1960s, many of Minami’s killer whales were killed or captured, and some of the surviving killer whales were put on display in marine parks. As of 1974, surveys showed that only 71 individuals remained in the wild. The population has since fluctuated, reaching a high of 95 people in 1995, but has declined since then.

The main reasons why whales are struggling are a decline in the quality and quantity of their prey and pollution from industrial chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that contaminate their prey and accumulate in their bodies. Additionally, ship noise can disturb whales and prevent communication.

Research shows that unless more aggressive action is taken, the southern population is on a path to extinction. Already, Washington state and federal agencies have invested more than $1 billion in programs to reduce threats to whales. But the essential point still remains. Southerners simply don’t have enough food.

Major rivers that were once rich in salmon, including the lower Snake River, have been dammed, limiting access to and survival of salmon.

“We’re not doing enough on chinook recovery and salmon recovery,” Gaydos said.

For struggling southerners, the loss of a female calf is a devastating blow not only to the mother but to the trajectory of the subspecies as a whole.

“The real limit is the number of females that reach reproductive age and their ability to actually raise calves successfully. So we would like to see more females in the population.” Weiss said.