Tear-Jerking Picture Of A Grieving Orca Mom Carrying Around Her Dead Baby For Days Goes Viral

Just like humans, animals too grieve the death of a loved one and this picture of an Orca pushing around her dead baby calf is heartbreaking proof.

This orca, named J35, gave birth to a perfectly fine baby, but a few minutes later it died of unknown reasons. That's when the killer whale started pushing around her little baby everywhere she went and was just not ready to let go.

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Deborah Giles, a killer whale biologist with the University of Washington, told The Washington Post, 'this feat of holding something takes a toll on animals like Dolphins or whales. They have to literally hold their breath while doing it.' And this orca was doing it for days, holding her breath and going hungry for days while holding on to her baby. J35 managed to do this repeatedly, all the while fighting a strong current, Giles said.

We are saddened to report that a baby Southern Resident killer whale (SRKW) died a short time after it was born near Victoria, British Columbia on July 24, 2018. The newborn whale was reported alive and swimming with its mother, J35 ... https://t.co/ql0kDBU9LL pic.twitter.com/GQteYuPsv4

¡ª Whale Research (@CWROrcas) 26 July 2018

The mother whale¡¯s first response was to get her baby to air, said Ken Balcomb, a scientist with the Center for Whale Research.

¡°I¡¯m sure that she¡¯s aware that it¡¯s deceased,¡± he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but ¡°she¡¯s reluctant to leave her baby.¡± Researchers have seen similar orca behavior before, but never so prolonged, he said.

The orca mother is known to researchers as J-35. She travels with one of three remaining ¡°southern resident¡± orca pods off the coast of Oregon, Washington state and Vancouver Island.