A killer whale who carried her dead calf for 17 days and swam more than 1,000 miles of ocean in 2018 has given birth to a new baby, according to the Center for Whale Research.
A Facebook post said the calf was born from Tahlequah, known to investigators as J35. He was first spotted on December 20 while swimming with J pod in the Puget Sound area, DailyExpertNews reported.
“The Center for Whale Research has received additional information regarding the new calf born in the J-pod. On Monday, December 23, a team of researchers, including scientists from NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, were able to conduct longer-term observations of the new calf. These observations allow us to more confidently assign the new calf's mother J35 and give it the alphanumeric designation J61,” the Center for Whale Research release said.
The team photographed the underside of the calf and confirmed it was a female. “The team, consisting of several experienced orca researchers, has raised concerns about the health of the calf based on the behavior of both J35 and J61. Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year. an experienced mother, and we hope she can keep J61 alive in these difficult early days,” it added.
Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research, told DailyExpertNews that researchers were initially unable to confirm the calf's identity, but after observing it “with confidence” they identified Tahlequah as the mother and baby as alphanumeric J61.
A nature lover and photographer who captured the calf said he was shocked after seeing the calf. “I was just looking through my photos to see who the whales were that were passing close to the port side of the ferry I was on and saw a much smaller dorsal in one of the photos.”
After scrolling through the series, the photographer realized that “it was a very small calf, much smaller than any known fry in the group.”
Tahlequah, or J35, made headlines six years ago after swimming with the body of her calf across about 1,000 miles of ocean. The calf had died within hours of birth. She swam with the body for more than two weeks to prevent it from sinking.
Two years later, she gave birth to her first known baby since the incident, J57, in 2020. She is also the mother of another orca named J47.