A Southern Resident killer whale that has lost multiple babies shortly after birth has been spotted again carrying a dead calf.
The killer whale, named J31 to researchers, was spotted in her home waters off the British Columbia coastline last week near Sombrio Beach, a fun little surf spot on southern Vancouver Island. She’s part of the well-known J-Pod, a group of whales that has seen multiple calf losses over the past few years.
In 2016, J31 was seen carrying her first dead calf in her mouth, and in the intervening years she has had multiple pregnancies that ended in the death of her baby. Researchers aren’t sure whether the most recent dead whale was a male or female or whether it was born alive or not, but yet another failed birth from this particular pod is a worrisome sign. Only 75 of these whales remain, making them critically endangered. One glaring factor in the decline of southern resident killer whales is the lack in chinook salmon in the area, the populations of which have declined significantly due to fish farming and disease.
“Although the cause of this calf’s death is not known, it occurs against a backdrop of long-standing reproductive difficulties within the population,” wrote the Center for Whale Research in a statement. “For a population as small as the southern residents, the successful birth and survival of every calf matters.”
J31, born in 1995, only has one surviving offspring: a female called J56, who was born in 2019.
“The Southern Resident killer whales remain critically endangered,” the Center for Whale Research said, “and their recovery depends not simply on increasing the number of pregnancies, but on creating the conditions in which mothers and calves can survive and thrive.”
