Say hello to L114, the latest orca born to Puget Sound's San Juan pod.
The birth of this calf, the fifth for this group this year, brings the pod's population up to 89. Marine biologists worried when the San Juan pod's population dropped to 81 in 2001, down from their high of 98 in 1995. But now the whales are making something of a comeback.
The new calf and its mother, L77, were first spotted off Vancouver Island on Sunday afternoon. It weighed about 440 pounds at birth.
Female orcas become fertile at about age 15 and can give birth up until the time they're 40 or so. They gestate for 17 months, so births are not that frequent. A female might calf every four or five years.
The offspring stay with their mothers their entire lives. J1, a male of about 60, still stays very close to his mom, J2, who is nearly 100.
Source: Seattle Times
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