Researchers in Washington state say a southern resident killer whale that suffered multiple reproductive losses in the past has been seen again with a dead calf off British Columbia’s coast.
The Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash., says in a social media post that the mother orca known as J31 was spotted Saturday in the Juan de Fuca Strait near Sombrio Point on Vancouver Island, some 70 kilometres west of Victoria as the crow flies.
The centre says it is unclear if the calf was male or female, and whether the animal was carried to full-term before birth or was stillborn.
J31 had suffered previous losses, including failed pregnancies, and was also seen in 2016 carrying a dead calf.
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Researchers say the discovery of another dead calf is significant given the “continuing challenge of successful reproduction” within the endangered southern resident killer whale population.
The whales are classified as critically endangered, with a population of about 73 in 2024, and researchers say the local population’s ability to recover has depended significantly on the availability of chinook salmon.
“Although the cause of this calf’s death is not known, it occurs against a backdrop of long-standing reproductive difficulties within the population,” the centre’s statement says.
“For a population as small as the southern residents, the successful birth and survival of every calf matters.”
J31 was born in 1995 and has one surviving offspring, a female known as J56, born in 2019.
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