Experts witness birth of 2nd orca baby in Pacific Northwest pod that lost calf in 2018
Naturalists aboard the Pacific Explorer were headed back to Washington on Thursday when they saw a lone orca in the Salish Sea.
“We spotted who we soon identified to be J41 just southwest of Race Rocks. She appeared to be alone at the time and stayed very close to the surface for a few minutes,” said Talia Goodyear, a professional naturalist with the Pacific Whale Watch Association. ”After going under for several minutes, she reappeared, and this time it looked like she was pushing something with her rostrum.”
After doing that three or four times, the researchers became concerned, considering all the possibilities that could befall the orca known as J41, or Eclipse, from the Pacific Northwest’s J-pod, a release from the PWWA said.
“We did question whether this was a Biggs killer whale with a seal, or if we were seeing a buoy and this was an entanglement, and then we were concerned we could be reliving the tragic situation with J35 and her deceased calf from 2018,” Goodyear said.
J35, or Tahlequah, garnered international attention when she pushed her dead calf for 17 days after it was alive for only 30 minutes, The Olympian reported. Tahlequah gave birth to a new calf, J57, in early September.
After helping her baby take a few breaths, J41’s calf started to surface on its own.
“It appeared to be a rambunctious little bundle of baby, as every surface was exaggerated and playful,” Goodyear said. “It took a few minutes to realize what was actually happening, but then it was pure excitement realizing that it was a birth and the baby was very alive and boisterous.”
This is Eclipse’s second calf. She gave birth to her first, J51, in 2015.
The birth took place off the waterfront of Vancouver, B.C., during a PWWA whale-watching tour with Orca Spirit Adventures.
Although this is good news, the PWWA “remains cautiously optimistic,” the release states. The survival of “the endangered [Southern Resident Killer Whales] population” has become a concern as Chinook salmon populations, which the orcas rely on for food, have dramatically declined, according to PWWA.
