Killer whale that spent 17 days 'mourning' its dead calf gives birth again

A killer whale that went viral for carrying her dead calf around for 17 days has given birth again.

The orca, called J35 and also known as Tahlequah, was spotted with her new calf in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in US waters by researchers from the Centre for Whale Research in Washington.

"Hooray! Her new calf appeared healthy and precocious, swimming vigorously alongside its mother in its second day of free-swimming life," said the researchers.

"We know that it was not born today because its dorsal fin was upright, and we know that it takes a day or two to straighten after being bent over in the womb, so we assign its birthday as September 4, 2020."

During their encounter with the whales, the researches noticed that Tahlequah mostly kept herself separate from the other whales as she crossed the border into Canada.

Tahlequah drew international attention when she was spotted carrying around her dead calf for a record breaking amount of time in 2018.

She became pregnant again in February last year and the whale watchers spotted Tahlequah with her new calf on Friday.

"We hope this calf is a success story," wrote the Centre for Whale Research on its website.

It added that significant nutritional stress for whales in recent years has meant that a large percentage of pregnancies fail.

There is about a 40 per cent mortality for young calves, said the centre.

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