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A female killer whale who seems to be in mourning carries her dead calf in the water, leaving it afloat since the baby died more than a week ago.
Taylor Shedd / Soundwatch, taken under NMMP license MMPA # 21114
hiding the legend
rocking legend
Taylor Shedd / Soundwatch, taken under license NMFS MMPA # 21114
A female killer whale who seems to be in mourning carries her dead calf in the water and keeps it afloat since the baby died more than a week ago
Taylor Shedd / Soundwatch, taken under NMMP license MMPA # 21114
A mother orca still carried her dead calf in the waters of the Pacific Northwest Tuesday, more than a week after the baby's death.
Calf was the first to be born in the endangered killer whale pod in three years, says Jenny Atkinson, executive director of the San Juan Island Whale Museum. The orc mother's fate highlights the latest setback of the declining population of killer whales off the San Juan Islands, in the state of Washington. Their number rose from 98 in 1995 to 75 today.
Marine biologists at the Whale Museum are keeping a close eye on the mother named Tahlequah. The orc mother carries the dead calf on her head in an act of apparent mourning with the help of her group, says Atkinson.
"In a situation like this, we have seen each other support each other in an amazing way," she tells Jeremy Hobson of Here & Now.
Orcs usually carry a stillborn calf for about a day or two after his death, according to the researchers. But Atkinson says that Tahlequah could still carry the body because the baby calf was alive for about half an hour after his birth on July 24th. This is the longest period during which researchers have observed an orca mother carrying a dead calf, says Atkinson. .
"One of my questions to biologists is …" Does the grief change once you have met the being that you have worn? "She says." So, she carried this for 17 months before she was born, and we know that she swam by her side, so there would have been a bond, a birthing experience … So, there is a part of me that believes that grief could be much deeper because they were glued. "
Researchers are also concerned about the mother's health.They are worried that she is not eating enough and that she is exhausted by diving to recover the body when she loses control of it. in troubled waters.
"I'm so terrified of her well-being," Deborah Giles, a research scientist for the University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology, and research director for the University of Washington. Orca non-profit Wild Orca, told the Seattle Times. "She is a 20-year-old female, of childbearing age, and we need her."
Puget Sound's killer whales have been critically endangered since 2005 due to the decline of chinook salmon, their main food source, among other factors. Sound has been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1999.
In addition to the decline of chinook salmon, the congested waters of whales and other commercial boats have threatened the population with killer whales. According to a recent study, noise pollution significantly hampers communication with whales, making them less effective at hunting.
When whales find salmon to eat, they often ingest toxins because of the pollution of the environment, which is pbaded on to their fragile offspring, says Atkinson. The population of killer whales in Washington normally produces four to five calves a year, but pollution has pushed up the death rate, she adds.
In March, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed an order to facilitate the recovery efforts of the orca and chinook salmon populations. Whale watching alone brings in about $ 60 million a year, according to a statement released by the governor's office.
Marine biologists also monitor another calf in this capsule that is "severely emaciated," says Atkinson. Tahlequah stood on the dead calf while she and her pod continue their migration into the Salish Sea from the state of Washington to British Columbia.
"The first thing that tells me is that grief is not the property of humans," Atkinson says. "What's amazing about Tahlequah, is that she … carried this calf to hundreds of miles and hundreds of hours at that time, and her family l & rsquo; # 39; s help. "
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