Wild Orca Family Spotted Swimming With Tiniest New Member

[catbyte]

This little baby is super rare, so people are VERY excited 👏

By Sarah V Schweig

A tiny blessing has finally arrived for a wild orca family living in waters off the Pacific Northwest — and people are celebrating.

"On January 10, 2019, TV stations in Seattle aired live aerial footage of several groups of killer whales in Puget Sound near Seattle, and discerning viewers were able to see a very small whale among them," the Center for Whale Research (CWR) wrote. "CWR researcher, Melisa Pinnow, was able to see that L pod individuals were in one of the groups with a new baby."



After researchers went out on the water to investigate the tiny whale, they realized that a 31-year-old orca, L77, also known as Matia, had given birth for the first time since 2012. The calf, L124, is a girl.

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It's been three years since there's been such happy news for this group of orcas — but that doesn't mean they've been out of the spotlight. Last year, the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), which includes J Pod, K Pod and L Pod, made international headlines when a mother orca in J Pod, J35 or Tahlequah, was seen carrying the dead body of her newborn calf for 17 days in a heart-wrenching tour of grief before finally letting go.

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https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/new-baby-orca-born-endangered-southern-resident-killer-whales

"People all across the U.S. and Canada are rooting for this baby to make it, for the sake of L77 the mom, for the population as a whole, and indeed for all of us," King said.

[Moostache]

1. Such magnificent animals...Orcas have always held my mind captive...

After watching "Blackfish" documentary about the SeaWorld and other facilities treatment of captive whales I was glad to see the demise of such places - though some still exist and will for quite some time.

Wishing that newest calf well...she faces an extremely challenging future to say the least...

[dhill926]

2. I'm with ya...

[gopiscrap]

3. Wow! Hope this one survives.

It's been such a struggle for this species.

[niyad]

4. magnificent