J35 Tahlequah

Tahlequah is a special killer whale to many people. I remember hearing about her story in the news and online. It's another sad tale so here we go:

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She's another killer whale from J Pod of the southern resident orcas who has gone through several losses, but she's especially known for what people called The Tour of Grief. She has given birth to four children, with two still alive today named Notch and Phoenix.

Tahlequah is the daughter of Princess Angeline, and L41 Mega. In 2016, her sister Polaris gave birth to a son named Dipper. Not long after giving birth, Polaris began to lose weight and her health started to decline. Dipper, who was still nursing, began following his mother health wise. Polaris eventually passed away and Tahlequah and Polaris' daughter, Star, both took the task of caring for Dipper. Unfortunately, he didn't last long and about a week later he died.

In 2018, Tahlequah's mother showed the same signs, and though she started to gain weight, a year later she too died.

In that same year before her mother's death, Tahlequah gave birth to her second baby but half an hour later the baby died. She captured the world's attention when she was seen carrying the body of her dead calf. She traveled over 1,000 miles over the course of 17 days which was later called the Tour of Grief. Within a week she was having trouble keeping up with her pod. And people reported that her pod took turns carrying the baby while Tahlequah rested. Despite the calf showing signs of decomposing she did not let it go. Then she vanished for a few days an when she was spotted again it was reported she finally let go of her baby and rejoined her pod.

Her baby wasn't given an identification number but it was named "Ti-Tahlequah," meaning "little Tahlequah."

In July of 2020 she gave birth to another calf, her son named Phoenix. Then last year in December she gave birth to another calf, J61. Researchers were hopeful at first but determined the baby to be born prematurely and reported Tahlequah pushing her baby around who showed signs of lethargy. Researchers kept an eye on her and the baby and a week later they didn't see J61 among the pod. Then on Jan 1st of this year people spotted Tahlequah once again carrying the body of her dead calf. She carried J61 for 11 days.

The study of grief and how animals mourn is still fairly new in that researchers are still trying to recognize it across various species. It was believed that grieving was associated with large-brained animals like elephants, primates and cetaceans. Studies are showing grief doesn't depend on the brain size and cognitive power, as the capacity to form bonds is becoming a new factor on how species express it.

For Tahlequah, researchers and advocates worry and wonder what it could mean for her and the southern residents. With only a population of 74, every calf born is a lifeline for their preservation, and every loss hurts just as deep.