You can’t pinch its cheeks or make it giggle with a game of peek-a-boo, but that doesn’t make a baby orca any less adorable. Some might say that the one recently spotted in Washington’s Puget Sound may also be close to miraculous.
Believed to have been born on Monday to “J37,” an 11-year-old killer whale, the Center for Whale Research said the newborn calf was first seen with adults from the J pod, one of the three orca “pods,” or whale social groups, that frequent the sound. The center has been tracking the mother since August 2001, when she was five or six months. The new whale has been dubbed J49.
In a report on its encounter, the Center reported, “The head and neck region was lumpy looking, like that of a very newborn human baby, and the calf surfaced with exaggerated head lunges, indicating it had healthy energy and was breathing properly – no maternal lifting required.”
Maya, a whale watcher who spotted the baby on Tuesday commented, “It’s very young and very very small. It has lots of coloration, pinkish orange.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce listed Puget Sound’s orca population, officially known as Southern Resident killer whales, as endangered in November 2005. While it lists species that are at risk of becoming endangered as “threatened,” the term “endangered” is reserved for those at risk of extinction. This particular population has been exposed to dangers including vessel traffic, toxic chemicals and limits on prey, especially salmon. Its small size also makes it more vulnerable to catastrophic events like disease or an oil spill.
Photo credits: The Center for Whale Research