The sight of an orca clinging to her dead calf for a heartwrenching reason turned out to be a way of coping with loss, just like humans.

Tahlequah previously carried another dead newborn for 17 days in 2018. Here's what she's taught us about how orcas deal with death.

The grieving killer whale mom and her family — Tahlequah ... NOAA Fisheries West Coast And the act of carrying a dead calf is just that: a sign of grief. At least, that’s what researchers ...

Tahlequah, the mother orca denoted as J35 who captured hearts worldwide in 2018 by carrying ... Center for Whale Research. Tragically, by New Year’s Eve, the calf was confirmed dead, he said.

Tahlequah, the mother orca famous for carrying her dead calf on her back in ... the end of the year with some hope. The calf was female, and the killer whale population is endangered and ...

In fact, killer whales often carry their deceased calves ... she isn’t foraging and is expending a great deal of energy on carrying her dead calf. After her ordeal in 2018, she recovered her ...

An endangered Pacific Northwest orca that made global headlines in 2018 for carrying her dead calf for over two weeks ... The population of southern resident killer whales — three pods of ...

RELATED: Famous orca mom carries another dead calf around Puget Sound Researchers say the Northwest’s fish-eating orcas, known as southern resident killer whales, typically head for the Pacific ...