New L-Pod Baby Shows Off for the Cameras

— by Lin McNulty —

Last Wednesday, February 25, crews from NOAA were able to film the new L-pod baby orca, at that point less than a week old. Mama and baby were filmed off the Washington coast near Westport.

Select video of L121 (gender still unknown, and as yet unnamed), the newest member of the L Pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales. L94 is L121’s mother, and this is L94’s second calf. These images were taken under a NOAA/NMFS federal permit and reprinted here with permission of NOAA Fisheries.

If you are interested in the names of the existing resident orcas, that information is available HERE from the Whale Museum.

(Note: The birth of a calf is rarely witnessed by researchers, so it is difficult to determine the actual birth date. Periodically, new information is gained which may change birth years. Birth years are established by the Center for Whale Research based on the best science at the time.)