Orca calf believed dead weeks after birth to first-time mother in endangered southern resident pod

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada — The Center for Whale Research (CWR) confirmed this week that a newborn orca calf, J64, is believed to have died just weeks after being first spotted with the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

Researchers made the heartbreaking discovery during an Oct. 23 encounter with J pod, one of the three families that make up the Southern Resident population. The team had set out to check on the calf, born earlier this month to 19-year-old orca J42—her first known offspring.

According to the CWR’s encounter report, observers located J pod traveling slowly north through Swanson Channel before spotting J42 swimming near the edge of the group. Researchers watched closely, waiting for the tiny calf to surface beside its mother, but it never did.

“We hoped it was nur