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An orca that carried her dead baby across 1,000 miles of ocean for more than two weeks has tragically lost another calf.
The killer whale, named J35 by researchers studying her, welcomed a daughter into the world shortly before Christmas - called J61.
It is the third calf that researchers are aware of that J35 has birthed, with the second coming in 2020 which was fortunately healthy, but tragically just days after the newest addition to the J-pod concerns were raised.
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J-pod is an endangered population of Southern Resident orcas that roam the Pacific Ocean between British Columbia, Canada, and the state of Washington.
Taking to Facebook on Christmas Eve (December 24), the Center for Whale Research posted in part: "The team, including multiple experienced killer whale researchers, have expressed concern about the calf’s health based on the behavior of both J35 and J61.
"Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year. J35 is an experienced mother, and we hope that she is able to keep J61 alive through these difficult early days.
"CWR [Center for Whale Research], along with the rest of the research community, is eager to conduct follow-up observations of the calves’ behavior and physical condition when possible."
On New Year's Eve (December 31), researchers confirmed the loss of J61 - on the same day another calf was born in the J-pod.
Her mom, J35, has begun carrying her dead calf around with her - as she did when she lost her first calf in 2018.
Taking to the social media platform Facebook, the Center for Whales Research posted: "The Center for Whale Research has received additional information that as of 1/1/25, J35 has been seen carrying the body of the deceased calf (J61) with her.
"This behavior was seen previously by J35 in 2018 when she carried the body of her deceased calf for 17 days."
The nonprofit organization added: "The death of any calf in the SRKW [Southern Resident killer whale] population is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating, not just because she was a female, who could have one day potentially led her own matriline but also given the history of her mother J35 who has now lost two out of four documented calves - both of which were female.
"The entire team at the Center for Whale Research is deeply saddened by this news and we will continue to provide updates when we can."
Joe Yates