A killer whale that touched the hearts of people around the world in 2018 after carrying her dead calf for 17 days in an apparent display of grief has given birth again.
The orca, named Tahlequah or J35 by researchers, was spotted swimming with a new calf in the Puget Sound waterway off Washington state on Friday, scientists said.
In a Facebook post, the Center for Whale Research confirmed that the baby, named J61, is a female.
However, experts have raised concerns about the health of the new calf ‘based on the behavior of both J35 and J61’.
In a post on
The Center for Whale Research added: ‘Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year.
‘J35 is an experienced mother and we hope she can keep J61 alive in these difficult early days.’
Tahlequah gave birth to one calf in 2010 that survived, but she also suffered a miscarriage in mid-2010 before losing the 2018 calf shortly after birth.
A killer whale who touched the hearts of people around the world in 2018 after carrying her dead calf for 17 days in an apparent show of grief has given birth to a new baby
In a Facebook post, the Center for Whale Research confirmed that the baby, named J61, is a female
Tahlequah or J35 to researchers is pictured mourning after her calf died on July 24, 2018
She carried the dead child for more than 1,000 miles, while experts at the time said she was going through a “deep grieving process.”
‘The baby was so newborn that he had no blubber. It continued to sink and the mother brought it to the surface,” Ken Balcomb, a senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research, said at the time.
‘It’s terrible. This is a sentient animal,” added Deborah Giles, science and research director of the nonprofit Wild Orca.
“It understands the social ties it has with the rest of its relatives.”
“(The mother) is attached to (the calf) and she doesn’t want to let go. It’s that simple. She is grieving,” she added.
Whales and dolphins are known to express their grief and even watch over their dead by clinging to the lifeless bodies of their offspring for days to protect them from predators.
However, Tahlequah’s display was unprecedented and struck an emotional chord worldwide.
Southern Pacific killer whales are critically endangered; only a few dozen remain in the wild.
According to experts, a shortage of salmon – and the resulting stress due to starvation – is linked to the whales’ poor reproductive conditions.
Currently there is a mortality rate of approximately 40 percent among young calves, while a high rate of failed pregnancies.
They are also threatened by pollution and underwater noise, the latter interfering with the orca’s sound-based hunting ability.
A baby killer whale is pushed by her mother after being born off the Canadian coast near Victoria in July 2018