Whale who carried dead calf for 17 days across 1,000 miles of ocean loses another newborn

An orca who carried her dead calf for 17 days back in 2018 has faced another heartbreaking loss.

Tahlequah, or J35 to researchers, touched the hearts of people around the world when she carried the calf’s corpse with her for more than two weeks in what experts have called a 'deep grieving process'.

Just before Christmas, the killer whale was spotted swimming with a new calf in the Puget Sound waterway in Washington, US.

This was the second calf J35 had given birth to since her 2018 loss, with the Center for Whale Research confirming that the baby, named J61, was female.

However, alarm bells were soon raised about the calf's health after scientists became concerned about the 'behaviour of both J35 and J61'.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Orca Conservancy noted: "The calf had also been observed being pushed around on J35's head and was not looking lively, which is a concern."

And, in a Facebook post uploaded just four days after the discovery, the Center for Whale Research wrote: "Early life is always dangerous for new calves, with a very high mortality rate in the first year.

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

Just before Christmas, an orca who'd carried the corpse of her dead calf with her for 17 days back in 2018 was spotted swimming with a new baby (Center for Whale Research)

Now, in a heartbreaking twist to the tale, it was confirmed on Tuesday (31 December) that the calf had died.

The Center for Whale Research wrote in a follow-up post: "The death of any calf in the SRKW population is a tremendous loss, but the death of J61 is particularly devastating, not just because she was a female, who could have on day potentially led her own matriline, but also given the history of her mother J35 who has now lost two out of four documented calves - both of which were female.

"The entire team at the Center for Whale Research is deeply saddened by this news."

Tragically, it has since been confirmed that the new calf has also passed away (Center for Whale Research)

J35 has since been spotted carried her deceased calf with her in behaviour previously seen when she lost her baby in 2018.

At the time of her 2018 loss, Deborah Giles, science and research director for the nonprofit Wild Orca said: "It is horrible. This is an animal that is a sentient being. It understands the social bonds that it has with the rest of its family members.

"[The mother] is bonded to [the calf] and she doesn't want to let it go. It is that simple. She is grieving."