In the waters off Washington State, a mother orca has been seen pushing her dead newborn calf, seemingly in mourning. It isn’t the first time this grieving behavior has been documented in this killer whale pod, a population that’s imperiled with an uncertain future. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The Center for Whale Research was alerted to the situation in Rosario Strait on Friday morning, September 12. Upon approaching the orca that afternoon, researchers confirmed an orca known as Alki, or J36, was pushing a deceased neonate with an umbilical cord still attached.

“Based on the size of the calf, we estimate that the calf was either full term or near full term. It is unclear if this was a stillbirth or if the calf d

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