J pod welcomes a new calf

The Cen­ter for Whale Research shares some pos­i­tive news from the South­ern Res­i­dent orca J pod.

On March 1, we wel­comed the mete­o­ro­log­i­cal first day of spring and a new calf in J pod.

We received word that J pod was near­by (off Land­bank, San Juan Island), and there was pos­si­bly a new addi­tion to the South­ern Res­i­dent orca family. 

​The Cen­ter for Whale Research’s pho­to-ID expert, Dave Ellifrit, found the whales near Kelp Reef and con­firmed the new addi­tion to J pod. The calf was next to J37, with J47 and J40 near­by. CWR field staff last saw J37 dur­ing Encounter #12 on Feb­ru­ary 11, 2022, and she did not have a calf at that time. We esti­mate this baby was born with­in the past few days, giv­en its “lumpy” phys­i­cal nature.

​Dave cap­tured images of J37 with her new baby trav­el­ing in a tight group with oth­er fam­i­ly mem­bers. CWR des­ig­nates this new­born J59. J59’s sex is unknown at this time. Its size and shape are typ­i­cal of a calf in good phys­i­cal con­di­tion. J59 is the first calf born into J pod since Sep­tem­ber 2020, when J41 gave birth to J58 (female). 

​The new moth­er, J37 (born 2001), is part of the J14 matri­line and has two sib­lings, J40 (female, born 2004) and J45 (male, born 2009). She was a young moth­er, only 11 years old when she gave birth to her first calf in 2012: J49 (male). 

Pho­to cred­it: Cen­ter for Whale Research

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