RELATED: Grieving orca who captured nation in 2018 is carrying dead calf for second time<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s never easy, and I suspect it never will be easy,\u201d said Michael Weiss, research director for the Center for Whale Research. \u201cWe were really hoping to see a healthy calf from her soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether the calf was stillborn or died shortly after birth. Based on CWR\u2019s observations, researchers estimate the calf had been born within the past three days.<\/p>\n
The scene is familiar to scientists and whale watchers in the Pacific Northwest. In 2018, a whale known as J35, or \u201cTahlequah,\u201d carried her dead calf for 17 days in what became known worldwide as a \u201ctour of grief.\u201d Earlier this year, the same whale was again seen with another deceased calf.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that intense bond, when you really think about what that must mean for the minds of these animals, the brains of these animals,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI think it\u2019s not all that surprising that when they lose their calves, so young and so unexpectedly, that it takes them a long time to be ready to let go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The southern resident killer whales, which number in the 70s, are listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Unlike other orca populations, they rely heavily on Chinook salmon. Many Chinook runs in the Pacific Northwest have been greatly reduced, with some near collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of the year, they\u2019re very reliant on Chinook salmon, and a lot of these populations that they\u2019ve historically relied on are now greatly reduced, or in some cases, almost completely collapsed,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
Weiss noted that the southern residents have \u201cmuch lower reproductive output than other killer whales, even in the Pacific Northwest.\u201d The loss of another calf is another setback for a population that, at best, he described as \u201cplateauing.\u201d There are currently two living calves in J pod.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are animals with big, complex brains that live in a really intricate, social world that are very aware of each other,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
Local residents, who often spot the whales from shore, say their presence is part of what makes the region unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re amazing,\u201d said Jill Blanco, a West Seattle resident. \u201cI think it\u2019s one of the coolest parts about living here \u2014 having that kind of nature so nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weiss said the loss of J36\u2019s calf should serve as another reminder of the importance of protecting the species.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be enacting policies on a broad scale that take the environment seriously, that take the threat of climate change seriously, that take our ecosystem seriously, and look at them as a priority to preserve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whale J36 was separated from other orcas, pushing a deceased female calf that was full-term or near full-term.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-157087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}