Endangered Northwest orca population drops as 3 males die
By John Ryan,
2 days ago
Three members of the Northwest’s population of endangered orcas died over the past year.
The Center for Whale Research says the southern resident killer whale population dropped down to 73 individuals as of July 1, the date of the group’s 49th annual orca census.
Two adult males, ages 22 and 32, died, and one male orca born in December lived only a few weeks.
Now, researchers say that baby probably died less than a month after his birth.
“It never put on weight, and it disappeared,” said researcher Deborah Giles with the nonprofit Wild Orca.
Many young orcas do not survive to their first birthday. Many others die in the womb.
Researchers blame a shortage of Chinook salmon to eat, as well as noise and toxic water pollution.
“There cannot be an effective recovery of the [southern resident killer whale] population without an increase in this crucial resource,” according to the Center for Whale Research.
“These animals are chronically hungry,” Giles said. “The moms are not as well-fed during gestation as they should be, and they probably lead to complications for the calf.”
Orca mothers also pass concentrated doses of toxic substances, such as PCBs which become stored in their fat, on to their offspring in the womb and when they nurse.
Other factors may have played a role in this baby’s short life, which the Center for Whale Research called “strange and tumultuous” in a press release.
During his brief life, baby J60 was photographed swimming nuzzled up against four different female adults, leaving researchers unsure who his mother was.
“It’s unclear whether this was a case of calf rejection, an inability of the mother to properly nurse the calf with other females attempting to help, or kidnapping,” according to the center’s press release.
"We've seen several times where reproductive age females try to take the new calf of another female, perhaps after losing one of their own," researcher Monika Wieland Shields with the Orca Behavior Institute said by email.
“I’m reluctant to say anything like ‘kidnapping,’” Giles said. “A lot of different females were present and behaving as if that could have been their calf.”
“It’s possible other females were coming in to try and aid,” she said. “We’ll never know.”
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