An orca named J35 has finally dropped her dead calf, which she'd been pushing with her head for at least 17 days and 1,000 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast, in an unprecedented show of mourning that drew international attention. 
 
 The sad spectacle was a prime example, and confirmation, of the complex emotional lives of these sophisticated cetaceans, experts say. 
 
 Other orcas, and similar animals like dolphins, have been seen apparently mourning their dead, but this is by far the longest recorded example of such behavior. 
 
 J35, nicknamed Tahlequah, is a 20-year-old member of the long-studied J Pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales. These orcas, along with their endangered extended family—K and L pods—inhabit a huge territory that includes waters off Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria, British Columbia. 
 
 Researchers worried that this "tour of grief" might seriously endanger the health of J35, but luckily, she appears to have made it through physically unharmed. "Telephoto digital images taken from shore show that this mother whale appears to be in good physical condition," the Center for Whale Research noted in an update, "following her record-setting ordeal. 
 
 As J35’s sojourn continued, some experts wondered why she was so attached to the calf. Was it because the calf lived for about 30 minutes after it was born? Jenny Atkinson, executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, British Columbi, thinks the grief Tahlequah is feeling is deeper because after 17 months of gestation, she then had the chance to form an emotional connection with her baby before it died. 
 
 “I think that’s quite possible,” says John Ford, an orca researcher at the University of British Columbia. “The whales have a very strong drive to look after their offspring and this evidently extends to neonates that die at birth.” 
 
 The death of another calf is a significant blow to J Pod, which hasn’t seen a successful birth in three years. Combined, the three pods have 75 members, and time is running out to maintain its viability. Ken Balcomb, founder and principal investigator at the Center for Whale Research, gives it five years. 
 
 “We’ve got at most five more years of reproductive life in this population to make it happen”—meaning, to have viable offspring—"but if we don’t do it in those five years it isn’t going to happen,” he writes. 
 
 View Images J35 carried her calf for at least 17 days and 1,000 miles, and researchers had worried she'd endangered herself by expending so much effort. But now she appears in good health. Photograph courtesy Center for Whale Research (Permit #21238) 
 
 Balcomb points to a lack of food as the culprit. “We have long demonstrated that these fish-eating whales are getting skinnier and skinnier, and the death rate is increasing,” he writes on the center’s website. 
 
 “Whales in this endangered population are dependent upon Chinook salmon for their primary food source. Unfortunately, Chinook salmon are also endangered,” he adds. 
 
 Experts expressed relief that J35 survived. As a 20-year-old in her prime, the pod needs her to reproduce. 
 
 “Even without this death, this is a population in crisis,” Atkinson says. “They need our stewardship and support if they are to survive.” ||||| As an orca mother shoulders her dead calf through the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington state for a ninth day, government officials, scientists and volunteers are warning off vessels approaching the grieving whale and her pod. 
 
 "We've had enforcement folks out every day to ensure that where there may be boating behaviour that's not appropriate,” Department of Fisheries and Oceans marine mammal co-ordinator Paul Cottrell told CTV News. “[Boaters] are being educated and also dealt with." 
 
 The sight of the whale, labeled J35, has generated international interest with the poignant photos of the orca gently raising her calf above the water’s surface. This type of grieving ritual is well-documented, but J35 has carried it out much longer than scientists have observed before. 
 
 J-pod, the group of 75 related Southern Resident killer whales, has followed J35 through the Salish Sea during the grieving ritual. Scientists believe they’re feeding the mourning mother from their own salmon catch as she remains fixated on the calf. But officials are increasingly concerned she’s exhausting herself by continuing the funereal tour through local waters. 
 
 “[It’s a matter of] the sheer amount of effort J35 is expending with maintaining the calf in tow and also diving down as it sinks to pick it back up," explains Cottrell. 
 
 J35 gave birth off Victoria’s Clover Point on July 24. Officials still aren’t sure if the female calf was stillborn or died shortly after and are counting on a necropsy to determine when she died and why. 
 
 A sprawling joint effort between Canadian and American volunteers and federal officials is tracking the pod as they criss-cross through the Gulf and San Juan Islands and even approach populated areas. On Monday, Taylor Shedd documented J35 shepherding the dead calf in the waters near Deltaport with the piles of coal and cranes visible in the background. 
 
 Officials aren’t revealing the exact location of the pod at this point out of concern more boaters will want to see the grieving whale for themselves, only saying J35 and her pod are in Canadian waters and under the jurisdiction of DFO. 
 
 While the agency is warning mariners to stay away from J-pod, they ask anyone who sees a whale in distress from the water or shore to immediately report it to their incident line at 1-800-465-4335. A quick response could mean the difference between successful intervention and a long, drawn-out search for an injured mammal. 
 
 Not only has the calf’s brief life tugged at international heartstrings, it’s triggered more concern among the scientific community. Despite a baby boom three years ago, none of the orca calves born to the resident killer whale group since the start of 2016 has survived and their preferred food source of fatty chinook salmon continues to dwindle. 
 
 Researchers such as Victoria marine zoologist Dr. Anna Hall say the salmon will ultimately be their key to survival. 
 
 “All of the actions that have taken place to date are terrific and we need to keep moving forward,” she told CTV News last week. “One of the important messages is continuing to make sure there are sufficient salmon particularly chinook salmon for the killer whales.” 
 
 There are only 75 whales in J-pod, and a four year-old whale known as J-50 is cause for concern as the youngster looks underfed to trained observers tracking the group. Researchers plan to use photogrammetry from a distance in the coming days to see how she’s faring. 
 
 That won’t happen until J35 gives up her dead calf and moves on. 
 
 “It’s a sad situation,” says Cottrell, who’s urging long weekend mariners to steer clear. 
 
 “We want people to respect the rules and the regulations put in place to ensure [the whales] are protected and they're not disturbed and they can do what they need to do. We want this population to thrive and recover." ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. -- A southern resident orca mother carried her dead calf in the waters off Washington's coast for a 10th straight day Thursday, in what researchers are calling a "tour of grief." 
 
 Affiliates of the Center for Whale Research spotted J35 - known as Tahlequah - carrying her dead calf in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, according to Taylor Shedd of Soundwatch. She trailed slightly behind the main J-Pod, but was accompanied by her immediate family. 
 
 The whales appeared to be headed west to open waters. 
 
 J35 was first spotted July 24 carrying the calf on her nose and in her mouth. The calf was only seen alive briefly. By the time biologists from the Center for Whale Research arrived at her side, the calf was dead. 
 
 On Wednesday, the calf was seen decomposing and had lots its rigidity. 
 
 Shedd told Q13 News he asked whale watching vessels to keep their distance from J35 and J50, a 4-year-old orca that was seen earlier this month severely emaciated. 
 
 Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 Michael Weiss, a field biologist with the Center for Whale Research, said whale watching boats were mostly voluntarily keeping their distance from the grieving orca. 
 
 Researchers across the field said J35's actions are unprecedented. The traumatic scene unfolding day after day has weighed on scientists who watch the mammals closely. 
 
 "As it's gone on, it's become less shocking," Weiss said. "It's no less sad and I think we're all just tired. Everyone who is on the water with her hopes that she will let it go soon." 
 
 J35 is in OK shape, and her breathing has grown less labored as the days go on. She is being fed with the help of her close family, Weiss said. And her son, J47, hasn't moved far from her side. 
 
 "I find it very interesting to watch," Weiss said of the close relationship between J35 and J47. 
 
 An audio recording of what appeared to be J35 making "mournful and prominent" calls was given to Q13 News by Michael Harris, a well known marine expert and conservationist. 
 
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 Q13 News will update this story at 4 and 5 p.m. ||||| Tahlequah is still carrying her dead calf, for a 16th straight day, and researchers fear she could be in danger. 
 
 Tahlequah, the mother orca also known as J35, was spotted Wednesday afternoon, still carrying her dead infant calf for the 16th straight day. 
 
 “I am absolutely shocked and heartbroken,’’ said Deborah Giles, research scientist for University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology and research director for nonprofit Wild Orca. 
 
 “I am sobbing. I can’t believe she is still carrying her calf around,” Giles said, adding, “I am gravely concerned for the health and mental well being of J35. 
 
 “Even if her family is foraging for and sharing fish with her, J35 cannot be getting the … nutrition she needs to regain any body-mass loss that would have naturally occurred during the gestation of her fetus and also additional loss of nutrition during these weeks of mourning.” 
 
 Michael Milstein, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said Tahlequah was spotted at about 1:30 p.m. by researchers at Fisheries Oceans Canada. 
 
 Tahlequah was seen along with her entire family off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. J50, the ailing 3 1/2-year-old orca in the same family also was seen, along with her mother, J16. 
 
 NOAA has mounted an emergency rescue plan for the young whale, J50, who is emaciated and may also have an infection. The agency submitted paperwork Wednesday afternoon for consideration by Canadian officials to allow medical intervention for the whale in Canadian waters if need be, including an injection of antibiotics. 
 
 All permits are already in hand to intervene in Washington waters, including with a possible emergency feeding plan. 
 
 The Lummi Nation is standing by to provide live fish for J50 if it is determined in a health assessment that such an unprecedented intervention makes sense. 
 
 The whales were too far away too late in the day to attempt a health assessment Wednesday afternoon, Milstein said. 
 
 The plight of the southern residents, in decline for years, has never been so stark. Down to just 75 animals, every calf matters. The plight of Tahlequah carrying her dead baby for hundreds of miles, refusing to let it go, has struck the hearts of people around the world. 
 
 “It’s almost like a parable, the damndest thing I ever saw,” said Jason Colby, a historian at the University of Victoria and author of a new book about killer whales and the capture era — which disproportionately targeted J pod. 
 
 While orcas and other animals, including dolphins and gorillas, are known to carry their dead, Tahlequah’s is an extraordinary display. 
 
 “This is absolutely unprecedented,” Colby said. To those such as Colby hoping for an urgent turnaround for the southern residents, Tahlequah’s witness to her loss, as she carries her dead calf day after day through the Salish Sea, is searing. 
 
 “As a dad I can only imagine her grief and everything she has gone through,” Colby said. “It seems like she is in a dangerous loop now that she can’t get herself out of and who knows how long she went without feeding before this.’ 
 
 Ken Balcomb, founding director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, called Tahlequah’s situation “tragic. 
 
 “It’s just — continuing. Someday we’re gonna get weary of all this,” he said, of the sad plight of the southern residents.. 
 
 He said he hopes the situation stokes momentum for fundamental change, such as taking down the Lower Snake River dams to boost salmon runs.
– An orca who spent more than a week carrying her calf following its July 24 death now has some help. Other orcas in the pod swimming through Pacific Northwest waters near the US-Canada border are taking turns carrying the corpse after the effort caused the 20-year-old mother known as J35 to fall behind with labored breathing. Trailing the main pod with improved breathing, J35 was seen with the now-decomposing corpse Thursday in the Strait of Juan de Fuca alongside immediate family members who are keeping her fed, per KCPQ. But "because we've seen her so many times without the calf, we know that somebody else has it," Jenny Atkinson of San Juan Island's Whale Museum tells the CBC. The same pod held a similar display 15 years ago, but this is the longest period of orca mourning on record, per National Geographic. Audio recordings indeed suggest the pod is using calls and whistles perhaps related to mourning. They sound "more like a very urgent call," says Atkinson. "I think that what you're seeing is the depth of importance of this calf and the grief of the mother and the family." It's a tight-knit one: There are just 75 orcas in three pods in the southern resident population around Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island, down from 83 in 2016. None have seen a successful birth since 2015. Amid indications a 4-year-old orca might be starving, an expert describes "at most five more years" in which to try to birth viable offspring. Declines in Chinook salmon have hit the population hard, per Nat Geo. Canada hopes to lend a hand by limiting catches of the fish, while experts hope a necropsy will reveal how J35's calf died, per CTV News. Of course, it must be abandoned first.