An Orca Grieves Her Lost Calf

The story of Tahlequah (aka J35) the orca shocked the world in 2018 when she carried her dead calf (that lived only half an hour) for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles. Since then, she's had two offspring in Washington Stats Straits of Juan de Fuca that survived. But again, for at least 11 days, she carried another dead calf on her head, which had lived only a week.

That's how mother orcas express their grief for a dead offspring.

Every time the calf slides off her head, Tahlequah has to dive down and pick it up - it weighs hundreds of pounds - before the waves carry away the calf. Deborah Giles of the nonprofit Wild Orca worries about the toll it takes on Tahlequah because she can't forage when carrying the calf.

Barbara J. Kingman, the author of the book How Animals Grieve, says there's no mistaking the nature of the phenomenon. There has been an increase in documented reports across animal species of their "expressing sorrow over the death of a loved one." She said more and more scientists are embracing the understanding that "many animals are expressing grief that emerges from love."

The orca and her family, the southern resident J pod, were seen in Haro Strait off San Juan Island on January 10 before they headed west toward the ocean.

- From the Seattle Times and several other sources.