According to the Center for Whale Research, we have a new addition to our local J Pod! It is adorably named J49.

orcaj49.jpg
  • CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH

Some gossip from the blog:

A bit of history about the mum: The first catalogue quality photograph we have of J37 as a baby was in August 2001, at which time she appeared to be five or six months old. Then, the first photograph we have of J37 with a baby was today, August 6, 2012, so we can assume that the new mother is 11 ½ years old - the youngest confirmed mother that we are aware of in the Southern Resident Community. With a gestation of approximately 17 months she must have been impregnated during or around January 2011 when she was about 10 years old! We had four encounters with J pod in January 2011 and all were with both J and K pods combined and L87. Hence, the father must have been among them at that time. Maybe this is why L87 is hanging around J pod so much!