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For three days she suffered, carrying her dead calf on her head, not wanting to let him go.
J35, a member of the orca family residing in the south, in critical danger, gave birth to his calf on Tuesday he died in half an hour.
All day and all night, she was carrying the calf. She was seen again carrying Calf Wednesday by Ken Balcomb, founder and principal investigator of the Center for Whale Research.
"It's incredibly sad," said Brad Hanson, wildlife biologist for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, who has witnessed other orcs' mothers doing the same thing with calves that do not work. have not survived.
Robin Baird, biologist researcher at the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, saw L72, another southern resident, in 2010 carrying his newborn baby dead in 2010. [19659006"Thisisaverystronglinkthatkeepstheseanimalsaliveandasyoucanseeyoucanonlyimaginethekindsofemotionaldamagethattheseanimalsproduce"saidMaird
. The umbilical cord had not been dead for a long time, and when we looked at it, all the rest of the whales were separated from afar, and they moved very slowly, dropping the calf from time to time. come back and r "
J35 does the same thing, carrying his calf by balancing it on his rostrum, just above his nose. She dives to pick it up every time she slips
Scientists have documented mourning behavior in other animals with close social ties in close-knit small groups, observed carrying newborns who have not survived.
Geographic areas covering three oceans have been documented carrying the bodies of their young dead, including the Risso dolphin in the Indian Ocean; the Indo-Pacific flat-nosed dolphin and the long-billed dolphin in the Red Sea; and pilot whales in the North Atlantic.
In one case, a researcher tied a rope to the carcbad of a big dolphin and towed it to the shore and buried it – with the next mother, touching the carcbad until it can no longer follow
Deborah Giles, researcher at the University of Washington Conservation Biology Center and director of research for conservation biology from the University of Washington, remained in the mouth. The wild Orca, a nonprofit, also watched L72 carry her dead calf, following her from a distance in her search boat until the light goes away and it gets too dark for see her
"Same thing, hours and hours". of this whale. "But I've never heard of that," she said of J35. "More than 24 hours.
" It's horrible. It's an animal that is a sentient being. He understands the social ties he has with the rest of his family members. She carried the calf in her belly from 17 to 18 months, she is attached to it and she does not want to let him go. It's as simple as that. She is in mourning. "
The news of the bereaved mother arrived even as researchers followed a emaciated 4-year-old baby in the endangered Orca clan.Hanson photographed Saturday J50 and documented the clbadic" peanut head " – Its survival is in doubt
Southern residents face at least three known challenges for their survival as a species: toxins, shipping and the lack of adequate food, especially salmon Chinook hungry, compounding other problems, research shows
Gov. Jay Inslee named a working group on the recovery of killer whales
Jaime Smith, spokeswoman for Inslee, stated that
"The loss of this calf is a serious reminder of what is at stake," said Mr. Smith. "That's why we have brought together partners who we believe can and will be the more apt to identify what we need to do in the pr ochaines weeks, months "
For researchers working closely with southern residents, their continuing decline is painfully apparent.
"I'm on the water to pick up feces from animals that eat badly," Giles said. "I do not know if people understand the magnitude of what we're talking about here we do not have five years to wait, we do not really do it. "
She said that other members of the whale family knew that J35 was pregnant, because of their Echolocation ability, which they use to find food.
"They must also be in mourning."
Copyright Associated Press
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