Researchers Disheartened By Presumed Death Of Baby Orca
- 10 years ago
The baby orca that was being tracked by the Center for Whale Research has disappeared and is believed to be dead.
Populations of killer whales living in the waters off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington have been dangerously low for some time.
A baby orca from the region that was being tracked by the Center for Whale Research has disappeared and is believed to be dead.
When the offspring wasn’t seen swimming next to its mother recently, it was considered to be a fairly bad sign for the survival of the community as a whole.
The young whale was a member of what scientists call the ‘L’ pod. It’s one of three that make up the group known as the Southern Resident orcas.
Among them there have been no other births in the last year, and no offspring that’s survived past its first birthday in the previous 2.
It’s said that the Southern Resident population is now less than 80.
That’s smaller than it was in 2005, the year it was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List.
Survival among the orcas has been greatly compromised in recent years.
Among the greatest threats are pollution and declining salmon supplies due to dam construction and loss of habitat.
It’s not known exactly what caused the approximately 7-week-old orca’s death, but one theory is that it perished in a storm when its pod swam offshore.
Populations of killer whales living in the waters off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington have been dangerously low for some time.
A baby orca from the region that was being tracked by the Center for Whale Research has disappeared and is believed to be dead.
When the offspring wasn’t seen swimming next to its mother recently, it was considered to be a fairly bad sign for the survival of the community as a whole.
The young whale was a member of what scientists call the ‘L’ pod. It’s one of three that make up the group known as the Southern Resident orcas.
Among them there have been no other births in the last year, and no offspring that’s survived past its first birthday in the previous 2.
It’s said that the Southern Resident population is now less than 80.
That’s smaller than it was in 2005, the year it was placed on the Federal Endangered Species List.
Survival among the orcas has been greatly compromised in recent years.
Among the greatest threats are pollution and declining salmon supplies due to dam construction and loss of habitat.
It’s not known exactly what caused the approximately 7-week-old orca’s death, but one theory is that it perished in a storm when its pod swam offshore.