Here’s some really great news – K45 is female!

During field work near Swiftsure Bank this August, our colleagues at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) were able to get photographs of K45’s belly, which show that K45 is female! Born this year, K45 is the first new K pod female since 2010. The southern residents have seen a surge in female calves in recent years, with 5 of the last 6 calves being female.

This is encouraging news, since this population’s growth is limited by the number of reproductive females. We hope that K45 and all the other young southern resident females can thrive and eventually have calves of their own.