Excitement over a newborn southern resident orca calf that was spotted with the population’s J pod earlier this week has been muted by news that another calf has died.
The Center for Whale Research shared the discoveries in a post to social media Wednesday.
“New Year’s Eve 2024 was a day of extreme highs and lows. 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 newly observed calf has been designated J62. Researchers say they don’t yet know much about it.
“The calf was among multiple females throughout their encounter, so more observations are needed to verify who the mother is. The calf’s sex is not yet known but the team reports that the calf appeared physically and behaviorally normal,” the Center for Whale Research said in its post.
Researchers confirmed a new calf has been born to a group of endangered southern resident orcas. The Center for Whale Research said the orca calf was spotted swimming with J pod in Puget Sound on Dec. 20. (Center for Whale Research/Facebook)
The deceased J61 calf was first seen travelling with J pod on Dec. 20 in Puget Sound. The newborn female orca was later determined by a team of researchers and scientists to be the offspring of mother J35.
On Dec. 24, the Center for Whale Research posted that based on the behaviour of the mother and calf, there were concerns for J61’s well-being.
“The death of any calf in the [southern resident] population is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating, not just because she was a female, who could have one day potentially led her own matriline, but also given the history of her mother J35 who has now lost two out of four documented calves — both of which were female,” the centre said.
J35, also known as Tahlequah, gained global attention in 2018 when she carried the body of her newborn for 17 days.
The southern resident killer whale population was down 73 individuals as of July 1, 2024. The orcas range predominantly in the coastal waters off southern Vancouver Island and Washington State and the inland waters of the Salish Sea.
