She swam with a dead cub for 17 days. Now he has a new baby

In 2018, there was a lot of news about Tahlequah the orca, which lost its baby half an hour after being born. Unable to cope with his death, she swam with the dead calf for 17 days. Preventing the bodies from sinking, she pushed them towards the coast of the northwestern United States and Canada.

Two years later, the orca, known to scientists as J35, successfully became a mother, and now a team of scientists observing the group of these animals has shared another piece of happy news.

On December 20, this female and her cub were spotted in the waters of the Puget Sound in the US state of Washington. After a few days, researchers were able to confirm that the calf's mother was Tahlequah.

– My first reaction to seeing the calf was complete shock. I was looking through photos to see what whales had swam close to the side of the ferry I was on, and I noticed a much smaller ridge in one of the photos. I realized that it was a tiny orca, much smaller than the rest of the individuals in the group, said Brittany Philbin, a nature enthusiast and photographer, in an interview with CNN.

However, OrcaConservancy scientists raised concerns about the calf's health based on “concerning behavior” by him and his mother.

As noted, a high mortality rate is observed in these mammals in the first year of life. “J36 is an experienced mother and we hope that she will be able to keep J61 alive in these difficult early days,” it said in a social media post.