--- description: An endangered orca that spends time in Pacific Northwest waters is still carrying the corpse of her calf one week after it died. title: A 'Deep Grieving' Orca Is Carrying the Corpse of its Calf image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt551a182d01888ee9/698936abfb4eac1d118973f5/orca-calf.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Wildlife](/tag/wildlife/) ## Wildlife Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # An Orca in 'Deep Grieving' Has Been Carrying the Corpse of its Calf for a Week by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2018 11:28 AM CUT  In this photo taken Tuesday, July 24, 2018, provided by the Center for Whale Research, a baby orca whale is being pushed by her mother after being born off the Canada coast near Victoria, British Columbia. In this photo taken Tuesday, July 24, 2018, provided by the Center for Whale Research, a baby orca whale is being pushed by her mother after being born off the Canada coast near Victoria, British Columbia.David Ellifrit—AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2018 11:28 AM CUT SEATTLE — An endangered orca that spends time in Pacific Northwest waters is still carrying the corpse of her calf one week after it died. Experts with the Whale Museum on San Juan Island have been monitoring the 20-year-old whale, known as J35, since her calf died shortly after birth Tuesday. For days now, the whale has been balancing the dead calf on her forehead or pushing it to the surface of the water. Jenny Atkinson, the museum’s executive director, says the orca was still carrying her dead calf Monday afternoon. Atkinson says the orca and her pod are going through “a deep grieving process.” The calf was the first in three years to be born to the dwindling population of endangered southern resident killer whales. There are only 75. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5353745/orca-dead-calf/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5353745/orca-dead-calf/"},"headline":"An Orca in 'Deep Grieving' Has Been Carrying the Corpse of its Calf for a Week","datePublished":"2018-07-31T11:28:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:00:40.001Z","description":"The calf was the first to be born to this group of whales in 3 years","url":"https://time.com/5353745/orca-dead-calf/","keywords":["Wildlife","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt551a182d01888ee9/698936abfb4eac1d118973f5/orca-calf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt551a182d01888ee9/698936abfb4eac1d118973f5/orca-calf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Orca Calf","caption":"Orca Calf","creditText":"David Ellifrit—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/wildlife/","name":"Wildlife"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5353745/orca-dead-calf/","name":"An Orca in 'Deep Grieving' Has Been Carrying the Corpse of its Calf for a Week"}}]}] ```