Stricken orca mother who carried her dead calf for 17 days is hit by another heartbreaking loss

A grief-stricken mother Orca, who is known for having carried her dead calf for nearly 1,000 miles over 17 days back in 2018, was hit by another devastating loss, scientists confirmed. Pictured: Tahlequah seen carrying her dead calf, J61, in Washington's Puget Sound Like humans, killer whales are social animals and often participate, as a group, in the grieving process. Pictured: Tahlequah seen carrying her dead calf in 2018, a feat she battled for 17 days Researchers note that the killer orca birthed J61 unusually soon after her last one and may not have had time to physically recover. Pictured: J pod calf, J61, swims in the Puget Sound 'It is a concern that she was expending a lot of energy to try to take care of this calf that she has lost,' a biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Brad Hanson, told the Seattle Times 'It’s fair to say she is grieving, or mourning,' Science Director of the SeaDoc Society, Joe Gaydos, said However, Talequah's unimaginable loss, though devastating, hardly comes as a surprise to researchers who say the survival rate of newborn calves is 'always marginal.' Pictured: Washington state's Puget Sound '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 one 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 CWR said.