Orca Tahlequah’s new baby dies

https://www.gazettextra.com/news/nat...c6a535712.html

Summary:
SEATTLE — In a day of sadness and surprise, researchers on Puget Sound on Tuesday found J61, the new calf born to mother orca Tahlequah, had not survived — and that a new calf also had been born to J pod.

Brad Hanson, biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northwest Region in Seattle, was on the water with other researchers for a health survey of the endangered southern resident orcas and confirmed the news.

Tahlequah’s new calf was especially important as it was a female. The birth also was of symbolic importance to the region. Tahlequah is the mother orca who carried her calf that lived only a half-hour in 2018 in a journey of more than 1,000 miles and 17 days, stirring grief around the world.