It has been just two years since Tahlequah (J-35), a member of the endangered Southern Resident orca population, gave birth to a calf, who lived only half an hour.
Last week, Tahlequah gave birth once again. And according to the Center for Whale Research on September 6th, her new baby, J-57, appears to be doing well:
J-47 (Tahlequah’s mother), Tahlequah/J-35, and her newborn J-57. Photo by Sarah McCullagh, Pacific Whale Watch Association, Sept 5 2020
“Her new calf appeared healthy and precocious, swimming vigorously alongside its mother in its second day of free-swimming life. We know that it was not born today because its dorsal fin was upright, and we know that it takes a day or two to straighten after being bent over in the womb, so we assign its birthday as September 4, 2020. (Ergo gestation commenced in February 2019).
“Tahlequah was mostly separate from the other whales and being very evasive as she crossed the border into Canada, so we ended our encounter with her after a few minutes and wished them well on their way.”
The good news and excitement over the new birth is tempered by the fact that the southern residents are officially designated an endangered population and that the mortality rate for young calves is 40 percent.
Their troubles are largely due to three factors: the continuing decline of their preferred food chinook salmon; boat noise and traffic; and the pollution of the waters of the Salish Sea.
However, the new baby is the third to be born to the southern residents since 2019, and the other two continue to survive.
The southern residents comprise three pods, known as J, K, and L. And J-pod has suffered the greatest losses in recent years. In the wake of the 2018 death of her previous infant, Tahlequah generated a worldwide outpouring of sympathy when she carried the lifeless body up and down the coast for 17 days and 1,000 miles in what became known as a “Tour of Grief.”
Then, only a month after Tahlequah’s loss, J-pod lost another member of the extended family. Four-year-old Scarlet (J-50) had been known as a vibrant and energetic youngster – a celebrity, indeed – as she would launch herself out of the water in a perfect arc, nose pointing to tail, over and over again to the delight of photographers.
Scarlet, left, with her sister. Photo by Katy Foster/The Whale Sanctuary Project under NOAA permit 18786.
But by age three, Scarlet was looking thin and weaker. And by the time she approached age four, she was the size of a two-year old. More than a dozen organizations, including the Whale Sanctuary Project, worked together under the auspices of NOAA to consider the best ways to help Scarlet in what was an unprecedented but ultimately unsuccessful effort to save her life.
Happily, in recent days, all three pods have been seen together around the San Juan Islands, their traditional summer home waters.
Deborah Giles, science and research director for the non-profit Wild Orca, who had been collecting fecal samples from the orcas for ongoing research, told the Seattle Times “It was a fantastic day with members of all three pods … The whales behaved much like we used to see them, socializing, with lots of amazing surface active behavior.”
We wish them all well in the days ahead.