New baby killer whale joins pod off Vancouver Island

VICTORIA -- Whale watchers are celebrating the sight of a new baby whale swimming with one of three endangered pods of killer whales off the coast of Vancouver Island.

The calf was spotted Wednesday by researchers with the Center for Whale Research of Friday Harbour, Wash., and appeared to be only hours old as fetal folds were still visible, said senior staff member Erin Heydenreich.

"They are folded up on their side when they are in the womb and the folds are still visible 24 hours after birth," she said.

The mother, L47, had been seen the previous day without a calf, so the birth apparently took place overnight.

"It is really exciting to see the calf so soon. Everything looks good so far," said Heydenreich.

"This is the sixth calf for L47 and the last three didn't survive. There's no real reason that we know about, but she's 34, so she's approaching the age when she will be post-reproductive," Heydenreich said.

But, for now, the calf appears healthy and is swimming with sisters L83 and L91, she said.

This summer, L Pod has spent much of its time swimming up the west coast of Vancouver Island, instead of the more usual summer stomping grounds off Victoria, possibly because they have found better fishing in that area.

That is making it more difficult to count the number of whales in the pod, but researchers believe two members of L Pod are missing, including the brother of Luna, the whale who was killed by a tugboat propeller two years ago.

The two missing whales are L101, Luna's brother, who was born in 2002, and L21, a grandmother who was born in 1950.

"They're only officially missing," said Heydenreich, which means the count for L Pod will remain at 43 mammals for now.

The 25-whale J Pod had a new baby last year, but none this year "and no one is suspiciously missing from J Pod," Heydenreich said.

K Pod is probably holding steady at 19 whales as a new baby was born earlier this year, but the matriarch, 98-year-old Lummi, is believed to have died.

The Ks have only one breeding-age male, but the whales usually choose mates from outside their pods.

Southern resident populations never recovered from decades of shootings and then captures for aquariums. The main threats they now face are pollution, shrinking salmon runs and marine noise.