The Canadian Press \u00a025\/07\/2024 04:00 The southern resident killer whale known as Tahlequah captured global sympathy in 2018 when she pushed the body of her dead calf for more than two weeks in waters off British Columbia’s south coast. Some scientists and advocates called the scene a display of public grief. But the impact of the loss went beyond Tahlequah. It was a significant blow to the entire population that numbers just 74 individuals. Recent research suggests a baseline rate of population loss of roughly one per cent per year \u2014 based on modelling and 40 years of observations \u2014 putting the whales on a path toward a “period of accelerating decline that presages extinction.” Even that rate of loss is “optimistic,” the research says. The study lends urgency to… <\/p>\n
The Canadian Press \u00a025\/07\/2024 04:00 The southern resident killer whale known as Tahlequah captured global sympathy in 2018 when she pushed the body of her dead calf for more than two weeks in waters off British Columbia’s south coast. Some scientists and advocates called the scene a display of public grief. But the impact of the loss went beyond Tahlequah. It was a significant blow to the entire population that numbers just 74 individuals. Recent research suggests a baseline rate of population loss of roughly one per cent per year \u2014 based on modelling and 40 years of observations \u2014 putting the whales on a path toward a “period of accelerating decline that presages extinction.” Even that rate of loss is “optimistic,” the research says. The study lends urgency to... <\/p>\n