An orca in Canada has captured the world's attention by carrying her deceased calf for over two weeks.
Known as J35, the orca's calf is believed to have died on July 24 near Vancouver Island, and she has carried it on her back ever since then, the BBC reports.
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Local researchers studying the dolphins say it's common to see mothers carrying deceased young, but J35 has been holding onto her baby unusually long.
"We've seen mother whales carry dead babies briefly, for parts of a day. We saw one a few years back for a couple days. But this sets a record," said senior scientist Ken Balcomb.
Researchers at the Centre for Whale Research say they do not yet know how the calf died, but there has been an increase in calf deaths recently.
"She's probably lost two more in the past decade," Mr Balcomb said. "It's got to be tragic for these animals to lose these babies, and it's happening at a record pace."
There are about 75 dolphins living off the southern end of Vancouver Island and inland marine waters of Washington State in the US.
Only about a third of the pregnancies in the group have been successful over the past 20 years and no pregnancies over the past three years have produced viable offspring.
One orca in the group, J50, has become extremely emaciated and scientists are currently considering how to rescue it.
Newshub.
