Main image via The New York Times + The Guardian
A couple of years ago, there was a sad story making its way around about a killer whale who carried her dead calf around for 17 days because she couldn’t bear to let go of her baby.
Now, two years after that tragic tale, we’re glad to report that Tahlequah has become a mum again!
via GIPHY
Tahlequah, the orca first made headlines in July 2018 when she gave birth to a 400-pound female calf that unfortunately passed away just an hour later. The grieving mother balanced the body on her forehead for 1,000 miles (1,609km) as she followed her pod around the ocean for 17 days.
Following that sad incident, scientists revealed that Tahlequah – also known as J35 - has indeed given birth once again and that the calf is in “good condition.” The nonprofit organization Center for Whale Research who spotted the baby, noted that it was “swimming vigorously alongside its mother.”
“Tahlequah (J35) has successfully given birth to a new calf tonight!” marine mammal rescuer Quad Finn tweeted. “Tahlequah is the orca who touched the hearts of millions around the world in 2018 when her calf died and she was seen pushing it for 17 days, refusing to let it go, in an unprecedented show of mourning.”
Nonprofit organization SR3, has been monitoring several pregnant killer whales – including Tahlequah; by recording drone images of three different pods. These images were used to assess the body condition of the whales over time.
Besides Tahlequah’s new baby, two more calves were born and continue to survive healthily.
The nonprofit organization monitored every single calf in the three pods with researchers keen to make sure that each calf was carried to full term.
Senior scientist at Southall Environmental Associates John Durban, told The Seattle Times that they were “really encouraged” Tahlequah carried the calf to term, adding, “[We] hope our continued monitoring shows it to be in good condition, and [to] document its growth.”
Science and research director for nonprofit organization Wild Orca, Deborah Giles, shared her experience with the three pods while she was on the water to collect fecal samples from the orcas for ongoing research by the University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology, saying:
“It was a fantastic day with members of all three pods. We were hugely successful, collecting seven samples, our daily record for the year. The whales behaved much like we used to see them, socializing, with lots of amazing surface active behavior.”
This behaviour is particularly encouraging; as such behaviour has become less common in recent years. Due to a decline in food supplies, the killer whales have been forced to spread out to hunt, leaving their pods and socializing less.
“Low ability of Chinook salmon appears to be an important stressor among these fish-eating whales as well as a significant cause of late pregnancy failure,” a 2017 study in the journal PLOS ONE noted. “Results point to the importance of promoting Chinook salmon recovery to enhance population growth of Southern Resident killer whales.”
“Regrettably, with the whales having so much nutritional stress in recent years, a large percentage of pregnancies gails, and there is about a 40% mortality for young calves,” the Center for Whale Research shared. “We hope this calf is a success story.”
Tahlequah’s baby and the two other calves were born healthy and they continue to thrive in their new environment, but researchers are still keeping a close eye on the new babies.
We’re wishing Tahlequah and her new baby the very best! This is definitely the kind of news we needed in 2020!
Are you happy to hear about Tahlequah’s new baby? Let us know!
Info via UNILAD + The Guardian