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Baby Orca Spotted Off Puget Sound, Third Killer Whale Born In Two Months

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 09:55 PST, Feb 26, 2015

U.S. scientists trailing killer whales in Puget Sound have spotted a new baby orca among one of the pods, the third addition to the endangered population in recent months.

Researchers were tracking the L-pod, one of three orca families that frequent the inland waters of Washington state, on Wednesday when they spotted the newborn killer whale. Brad Hanson, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, noted that the baby orca appeared healthy and active when it was sighted, according to U.S. News and World Report. The whales were spotted roughly 15 miles west of Westport, Washington, and the birth brings the number of orcas in Puget Sound to 80.

The three new killer whales born this winter are welcome news, as there has not been a successful birth in two years among the local orca population. According to Ken Balcomb, senior scientist at the Center for Whale Research, his group is approaching the orca births with cautious optimism.

“We know they’ve been having babies, they just haven’t survived,” he observed. “We’re getting more year-round observations, but the proof of the census is who’s alive by July 1. If they’re still here in July, we can celebrate.”

Juvenile mortality rates remain high among the orca population, as the whales struggle in the face of pollution and changing food sources. As the Inquisitr has previously reported, a decline in prey animals like salmon has affected the entire food chain, leaving mother orcas struggling and, in some cases, unable to produce milk for their young.

Though researchers are at this point unsure of the calf’s gender or age, they believe that an orca known as L-94 is its mother. As the Kitsap Sun notes, NOAA researchers plan to follow the pod of whales over the next few days, collecting fecal samples and leftover prey in an effort to study the orcas’ feeding habits. Leaving Newport, Oregon, on February 11, the NOAA crew has followed the J- and K-pods, as well as the L-pod.

Though Hanson asserted that it was too early to determine how things were going for this particular calf, the whales have faced a struggle over the last year. In 2014, the population lost four members, including a pregnant whale, in addition to a baby orca and two other killer whales whose fates were not readily determined.

[Image: NOAA via U.S. News and World Report]

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