Another baby orca for Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whales – sixth in less than a year

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Great news! New calf in J pod! We were out on an encounter today and documented a new calf, designated J53. The calf was seen traveling with J17. This is the third calf born in J pod this year. We will be following up this post with more information in the next few days. 👏👏👏 #srkw #orca #killerwhale #newbaby #congratulations #jpod #savethewhales #wildlife #centerforwhaleresearch

A photo posted by Center For Whale Research (@centerforwhaleresearch) on Oct 24, 2015 at 6:45pm PDT

Just last Wednesday, it was announced that the federal drone survey of Puget Sound’s Southern Resident Killer Whales suggested more orca babies were on the way. And tonight, the Center for Whale Research shared news of one! This is the sixth orca calf reported in the three resident pods – J, K, and L – in less than a year, dating back to last December. As you can see in the Instagram post embedded above, they’re promising more info soon.

pupsarebest October 24, 2015 (10:04 pm)

Hooray! ❤️

Chris W October 24, 2015 (11:01 pm)

This makes me so happy.

Lincoln Park mj October 25, 2015 (8:42 am)

Great news. It has been quite a year!

Marianne October 25, 2015 (10:34 am)

What wonderful news! I have been wondering if the genders of the six new baby whales have been figured out? Do any of the whale experts out there know?

wb October 25, 2015 (10:42 am)

Happy birthday, little one.

herongrrrl October 25, 2015 (12:37 pm)

Marianne–if I recall correctly, so far we have 1 female (J50) and 4 male (J51, J52, L121 and L122) calves. It could be years until we know the sex of this newest little one, unless it chooses to show off its belly for us–males and females have different markings.

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