Tahlequah- We Are So Sorry! Story Of A Southern Resident Killer Whale

hen 20-year-old Tahlequah delivered her daughter, the little one died within half- hour of her birth. But that was not the first time she had mothered. She has a son born in 2010. When Tahlequah’s daughter died of suspected malnutrition and pollution, she was inconsolable. She grieved for over two weeks. She carried her dead baby wherever she went, unable to come to terms with a cruel joke life had thrown at her. Tahlequah’s story made people lose their sleep, many wrote poems and drew pictures. Her story made a scientist cry too. We don’t know if Tahlequah has tears, for she lives in the Pacific Ocean. Tahlequah is a Killer Whale. An Orca.

Killer whales are toothed whales. Usually, whales have baleens- that used to gush water out, and filter in only krills- whales’ staple food. Killer whales, on the other hand, eat varieties of fishes, squid, sea turtles and seals. They are apex/ alpha predators- having no natural predators to score over them. While always referred to as the whale, they belong to the dolphin family. They are highly social and a group of Killer whales is called pods. These cetacean pods are matrilineal- following mother’s lineage. An offspring is taken care for over 2 years by the mother and slowly ends the weaning period by then. There have been instances where the offspring live with the mother lifelong too…