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Whale researchers hail arrival of orca calf to L pod

Orca researchers are celebrating the arrival of a new calf to the family of endangered southern resident killer whales often found off B.C.’s coast.
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The new orca calf L125 with its mother, L86. DAVE ELLIFRIT, CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH

Orca researchers are celebrating the arrival of a new calf to the family of endangered southern resident killer whales often found off B.C.’s coast.

The Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbour, Washington, confirmed the birth Wednesday after field researchers spotted the calf with the J, K and L pods in Haro Strait.

“It is nicely filled out and appears to be a perfectly normal calf,” Dave Ellifrit, the centre’s photo identification expert, said in a statement.

Researchers named the calf L125, and say it still has fetal folds, which, along with its size, indicate that it was likely born in the past four to six weeks.

The calf’s mother, L86, had three previous offspring, but only one, L106, is still alive. L112 was three years old when it was killed by blunt-force trauma in 2012, while L120 died the year it was born, in 2014, the centre says.

Researchers also spotted two calves born to J-pod in 2020 and both appeared to be doing well. The latest birth brings the number of southern resident killer whales to 75, according to the research centre’s latest census figures.