Editor-DN
Washington:
A bereaved female killer whale that carried her dead calf for more than two weeks in 2018 has again lost a newborn and is carrying her body, US marine researchers said.
Scientists say whales are among the most intelligent animals in the world, exhibiting complex social behavior that includes self-awareness and suffering.
The endangered orca Tahlequah, also known as J35, was spotted carrying her dead calf in Puget Sound off Seattle on New Year’s Day, the Washington State Center for Whale Research said.
“J35 seen carrying dead calf’s carcass,” the center said in an Instagram post on Thursday.
“This behavior was previously observed by J35 in 2018 when it carried the carcass of its dead calf for 17 days,” he said.
American media reported that when Tahleqa was carrying her previous stillborn newborn seven years ago, she was seen sometimes touching his body with her nose and sometimes holding it by her mouth.
“It’s a very tragic ordeal,” Ken Balcomb, founder of the Center for Whale Research, told public broadcaster NPR at the time.
The center said the loss of the latest female calf was “particularly devastating” because Tahlequah has now lost two of its four documented calves.
“We hope to learn more about the situation through further observation,” Post said.
The Center also said that Tehelika’s pod has been joined by another newborn. “The gender of the calf is yet to be determined but the team reports that the calf appears to be physically and behaviorally normal,” the center said.
Tahlequah and her pod mates are southern resident killer whales, a population listed as endangered in the United States.
There are only three pods in the population, numbering about 70 whales. They spend several weeks each spring and fall in the waters of Puget Sound.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, their numbers are declining due to a combination of factors including reduced hunting and noise and disturbance caused by ships and boats.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
