For months, it seemed like we were hearing nothing but bad news for the orcas. But, as seattlepi.com's Joel Connelly reports, the third baby orca born in the last two months has been spotted.
As Samantha Larson wrote for Crosscut in January, the populations of the local J, K and L pods hit a 30 year-low in 2014 after four died. Even more puzzling to oceanographers was that there had been only one pregnancy since 2012. That calf, born in December, disappeared within a month. Around the same time, a pregnant female was found dead. It seemed the orcas were going through a real life Children of Men scenario.
Most experts suspect the whales' slow disappearance has to do with them not getting enough food. Some hypothesize northern whale populations are snatching up the good chinook salmon. Others wonder if boat noise (whale watching is a popular pursuit) is decreasing the orcas' ability to hunt.
The newest baby, given the beautiful name L-94, was first spotted off Cape Lookout on Oregon's central coast. The new births increase the endangered orcas' population to 80.
