https://www.todayinbc.com/news/researchers-concerned-for-health-of-bcs-new-southern-resident-orca-calf-7730691

Researchers 'concerned' for health of B.C.'s new southern resident orca calf

The article states that more information about the new calf born from J35 “Tahlequah”, stating that the calf is female, and the alpha-numeric is J61. But the behavior of both the calf and the mother, it has expressed concern among research about the calf’s health.

More information has been released about the new orca calf spotted with a family of B.C.'s endangered southern resident killer whales.

The new calf, first seen travelling with the group known as J pod on Dec. 20, has been confirmed to be female and assigned the alpha-numeric designation J61.

Observations of the new calf on Dec. 23 also allowed researchers to “more confidently assign” the new calf’s mother as J35 Tahlequah, said the Centre for Whale Research in a news release.

However, based on the behaviour of the calf and its mother, the Washington State-based organization says researchers have "expressed concern" about the calf’s health.

Orca Conservancy, which is an organization working to recover southern resident killer whales, reported that J35’s calf is believed to be premature. “The calf had been observed being pushed on J35’s head and not looking lively, which is a concern,” they stated, adding that calf behavior is not fully understood. The calf was also seen staying underwater for long periods, suggesting nursing or attempts to nurse. In October, J35 appeared in subnormal body condition, raising concerns about her ability to nurse her calf.

Further information shared by Orca Conservancy, a U.S.-based organization working to help recover the critically endangered southern resident killer whale population, has revealed the calf is believed to be premature.

“The calf had also been observed being pushed around on J35’s head and was not looking lively, which is a concern," said Orca Conservancy in a social media post, which also noted calf behaviour is not "fully understood."

Orca Conservancy also reported the calf was observed remaining underwater for extended amounts of time indicating nursing or attempts to nurse.

But according to the organization, J35 had "appeared in subnormal body condition" in October, raising questions about her ability to successfully nurse a calf.

“Ideally, mothers need ample fat storage to meet lactation demands,” said Orca Conservancy. Despite a 50% calf mortality rate, the Centre for Whale Research is optimistic about J35’s experience raising two previous calves (J47 and J57), which may benefit J61. The Centre expressed hope, saying, “J35 is an experienced mother, and we hope she can keep J61 alive through these early days.”They plan to monitor the calf’s condition closely. J61’s arrival was “cautiously” welcomed, offering optimism for the declining southern resident population, which dropped to 72 in November after the presumed deaths of an adult male and a calf.

“Ideally mothers need to be robust with ample fat storage to help with the demands of lactation,” said Orca Conservancy.

While the calf mortality rate of southern resident killer whales is 50 per cent, the Centre for Whale Research is hopeful J35's success with two previous calves (J47 and J57), will bode well for J61.

“J35 is an experienced mother, and we hope that she is able to keep J61 alive through these difficult early days," it said.

The Centre for Whale Research has said they are eager to conduct follow-up observations of the calf’s behaviour and physical condition when possible.

When it was first spotted, news of the J61 was "cautiously" welcomed, bringing some optimism to the future of the southern residents, who have seen numbers drop to their lowest point since 2020

It was reported in November the southern resident killer whale population had dropped to 72 after an adult male orca and a calf were both listed as missing, presumed dead.

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I went on my first ever whale watching tour today and saw the CA51 pod in Long Beach, CA

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Shouka, Kalia, Keet, Kanduke, Katina, Corky II, Keiko, Keto’s flukes, Kayla, and Kasatka attacking Ken Peters in 2006 (he survived the incident)

I miss that game and loved watching the orcas😭😭😭

Okay so I’m new to learning about Orcas and all the stuff that has to do with them being in captivity. From my understanding, if an animal is born and raised in captivity, if they’re released into the wild they basically won’t survive because they lack the survival skills an animal who wasn’t raised in captivity would have.

Well, we know Orcas are extremely smart. So I’m wondering if they would be smart enough to adapt? Like if we took a captive raised Orca and put them in the ocean, would a local pod adopt them and help them learn to survive out there? Humans can learn to adapt to living in circumstances we weren’t raised in, so surely Orcas can do the same right?

This is a genuine question, ignoring the fact that there would most likely be bacteria and other stuff in the ocean that a captive Orca wouldn’t have been exposed to yet that could make adapting more difficult.

We’ve come full circle, influencing is a species wide epidemic 😂.

Any chance they’re begging for us to stop messing with their food supply?

Well not really, but Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Kyuquot is Tilikum's firstborn son, born at Sealand of the Pacific on December 24, 1991, to Haida II. A few months after his birth, a trainer died at the facility, leading to its closure. Following this, all the orcas were transferred to SeaWorld parks, with Kyuquot and his mother moving to SeaWorld San Antonio.

As is widely known, the conditions at Sealand were very poor, and Kyuquot’s health drastically improved after his move to SeaWorld. He began to grow and thrive properly, recovering from the difficulties of his early years.

Kyuquot remained very close to his mother until her passing in 2001. Known for his dominant yet gentle nature, Kyuquot stands out as one of the few male orcas worldwide capable of lifting his entire body out of the water, performing complex behaviors that most other males cannot achieve. Kyuquot is currently the oldest captive-born male orca and also the biggest mammal in Texas.

Today i was celebrating Christmas with family while they where in town and I got a joke about Orcas in a Christmas cracker

Q: Why are Orcas always the life of the Christmas party?

A: Because they do a killer whale impression!

First photo is Katina, 20, the matriarch at the time. “The injury was caused by interactions with other members of the pod. SeaWorld officials said they weren't sure exactly how Katina sustained her injury, though they said she was near 12-year-old male Trua (her grandson) at the time.”

Second photo is of Nakai, an 11-year-old , ‘SeaWorld has insisted that the horrific wound was caused by Nakai coming "into contact with a portion of the pool". On the night of the incident, Nakai and the two other killer whales, Keet and Ike, reportedly broke from a routine and started "fighting". SeaWorld staff could not explain the fight or identify which of the orcas had been the instigator.’

Third photo is an unknown orca from a SeaWorld facility, possibly Malia, with drilled and bleeding teeth. Orcas in captivity can experience severe tooth wear, including fractures and missing teeth. This can be caused by chewing on the concrete and steel surfaces of their tanks. Seaworld and many captivity facilities combat this by drilling into the tooth pulp and giving them a pulpotomy, food and bacteria can build up in these holes so they are flushed constantly by trainers.

Fourth photo is of Sakari, aged 6, after ‘playing’ with their younger 2 year old sibling, Kamea. Instead of bringing their mother Takara in to displace the escalating behavior, staff allowed the two calves to ‘play’ until Sakari popped up with a bleeding chin. Guests witnessing it said they were ramming eachother hard enough to make audible noises and pushing eachother onto the slide outs, ignoring trainers cues to perform tricks.

A note: in the wild, in structured and natural pods, discipline and aggression is not overly damaging or concerning, males are usually mommas boys and respect the matriarch, and calves are born a respectful 3-5 years in between, since the mother is pregnant for over a year at 17 months. A lot of these instances are chalked up to artificial environments, over hormonal young males, and unstable pods or hierarchy.

Uh genuine question for pronouncing her name is it L- one, two, eight or just L-one hundred twenty eight? Don’t judge pls I may be stupid. 😔

While there is proven evidence of orcas attacking and succeeding against female sperm whales even when they are in pods, is there any recorded instance of orcas ever attacking bull sperm whales. Sperm whales show some of the highest male biased dimorphism with the minimum difference being 3x between male and female sperm whales while exceptionally large males can be 6 times larger than females and they are solo hunters who join female pods only during mating season during which time they fight other bulls for mating rights. Female sperm whales often loose out to orcas because they can't exactly dive deep to escape while their offsprings become sitting duck and can't click at the top of their voices as once again their children are at stack hence orcas fighting female sperm whale pods are common, but with bull sperm whales, on rare occasions they do attack prey as pods(bull sperm whale pods) during which orcas are known to flee and if it is an individual bull, he turns around and swims for his life or he just dives to a 1000 feet which is out of reach for orcas and a depth at which orcas can be monitored and has the option to click at its full potential as he has no responsibility to look after offsprings so I am just curious, has there ever been a recorded instance of orcas taking down a fully grown adult bull sperm whale or vice versa?

Apparently the "Dutch Shark Society" claims orcas have a bite force of 19k PSI. However I cannot find any proof or a paper to back up this claim. If anyone knows where it is or if it actually exists, please let me know.

I got bored and randomly an idea to help people id the orcas of all parks that have them and that have been named and all around the world with photos

If anyone is interested let me know

I'll be cover

All 4 seaworlds ( Orlando San Diego , San Antonio and kamgawoa SeaWorld ( ok it's not affiliated with the other 3 but it has SeaWorld in the name lmao)

-Loro parque

-Port naygoa

-Suma

• Shanghai

• chimelong

• and marinland antibes

Idk thought it'd be a fun way to connect to the orca community lmao and share the ways I id these animals I'm also only really well versed with captive orcas wild orcas for me aside from a few are harder for me to id

Ok their a Asian part called wuxi but I don't think we have that many photos of them lol