Episode 37 - Calf Mortality & Reproductive Rates in Salish Sea Killer Whales

On Episode 37 of the podcast, co-hosts, Jeff and Sara, welcome back returning guests Monika Wieland Shields of the Orca Behavior Institute and Michael Weiss of the Center for Whale Research. With two very different populations of killer whales using the waters of the Salish Sea they wanted to delve deeper into the calf survival rates of the two populations. Are they the same? Are they different? Jeff and Sara chat with these two researchers about that.    This comes after the loss of calf L128 who was born to L90 “Ballena” this summer. The four talk about her, why this was a unique situation, and really take a look at the reproductive success of a food-limited population versus one that is not food-limited.   They also chat about the joint field study between Center for Whale Research and Orca Behavior Institute in Puget Sound that kicked off this November. It’s an exciting project and we learn more about it and what they learned from their first sessions down in Puget Sound.   Links from this episode:

• Center for Whale Research: https://www.whaleresearch.com/
• Orca Behavior Institute: https://www.orcabehaviorinstitute.org/