Stricken orca mother who carried her dead calf for 17 days is hit by another heartbreaking loss

A grief-stricken mother Orca, who is known for having carried her dead calf for nearly 1,000 miles over 17 days back in 2018, was hit by another devastating loss, scientists confirmed.

The killer whale, named Tahlequah or J35 to researchers, was spotted swimming with a new calf in the Puget Sound waterway off Washington State on December 26.

However, researchers have since confirmed the newborn calf, J61, has died.

'New Year’s Eve 2024 was a day of extreme highs and lows,' the Center for Whale Research said in a Facebook post. 

'We have confirmation of another new calf in J pod, but sadly, this was combined with the devastating news that J61 has not survived.'

Now, the - once again - grieving mother has been spotted tirelessly carrying her lifeless calf just as she did in 2018. 

'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 Tuesday post continued.

In video recorded by scientists on Wednesday, Tahlequah can be seen diving deeply under the water, over and over, as the tiny fin of her departed calf barely breaches the surface.

Researchers note that the killer orca birthed J61 unusually soon after her last one and may not have had time to physically recover. 

'It is a concern that she was expending a lot of energy to try to take care of this calf that she has lost,' a biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Brad Hanson, told the Seattle Times.

'And this is a time of year when fish availability is typically less than what it is other times a year. So we are concerned.' 

Tahlequah endures the tremendous grief while already thin - due to the low food supply - and taking care of two sons. 

'It’s fair to say she is grieving, or mourning,' Science Director of the SeaDoc Society, Joe Gaydos, said.

'And I think over the last few years, we realized that we have the same neurotransmitters that they have. We have the same hormones that they have. Why shouldn’t we also have the same emotions that they have?'

Gaydos added that, like humans, killer whales are social animals and often participate, as a group, in the grieving process. 

'Killer whales, like chimpanzees, like us, are social animals. Why wouldn’t the whole group participate in the grieving process? We don’t have the market cornered on helping others grieve,' he said.

However, Talequah's unimaginable loss, though devastating, hardly comes as a surprise to researchers who say the survival rate of newborn calves is 'always marginal'.

'The survival of newborn calves is always marginal, maybe around 50 percent,' Michael Weiss, research director for the Center of Whale Research said.

'The death of any calf in the SRKW 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 CWR said.

'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.'

Killer whales have been known to be sentient beings, experiencing grief and loss just as humans do. 

In 2016, scientists found evidence that whales and dolphins hold 'vigils' for their dead.

They analyzed several cases where mammals clung to the bodies of dead compatriots, and kept vigil over a dead companion. At the time, they said the most likely explanation was mourning.

Earlier this year, a two-year-old orca was seen circling a Canadian lagoon for days, refusing to leave the area where its mother died on the shore.

The young whale's mother, named Spong, passed away after she became trapped in the shallow waters off the west coast of Vancouver.

Wildlife officials and scientists then scrambled to move the young orca out of the lagoon and back out to sea before it would succumb to starvation.

But, these mammals usually stay with their moms their entire lives, so it is unknown if the two-year-old will ever leave its mother's resting place.

'Whales are connected for a lifetime with their family,' Janie Wray, CEO and lead researcher for BC Whales told The Guardian.

'And I just can't stop thinking about what that calf is going through because the calf doesn't understand why its mother is not any longer there for her.

'If that happened to one of us, you can just imagine what we would be going through. I really do believe that little calf is going through something very, very similar right now.'