Is Tahlequah (J35) Really Grieving? “Yes” Says Dr. Gaydos

— by Joe Gaydos, Science Director, SeaDoc Society–

Photo courtesy of Taylor Shedd, Soundwatch

For the last nine days, a female Southern Resident Killer Whale has been carrying her dead calf around the Salish Sea.

J35, the 20-year-old orca also known as Tahlequah, gave birth on July 24th, but the baby girl died just a short time later. Since then, people around the world have watched as this young mother has appeared to grieve.

Primates, including Gelada baboons, Japanese macaques, chimpanzees and mountain gorillas have been shown to carry around dead babies even though, as one researcher commented, it “is a waste of energy and seems to be of no benefit to the mother.”

J35 is certainly expending energy. She’s a member of our resident fish-eating orca pods that are under great nutritional stress from lack of salmon, but still, according to data collected by The Whale Museum’s Sound Watch program, she has carried her dead calf at least 250 miles since its death based on estimates from Soundwatch observation.

It was Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research who first told me about epimeletic behavior. This is when a healthy animal cares for an injured, ill, or dead individual.

(to read the full article, go to https://www.seadocsociety.org/blog/is-southern-resident-killer-whale-j35-really-mourning )

Thanks to Sharon Abreu