Orca mothers forgo future offspring to care for their full-grown sons

Female orcas within the north Pacific hunt and share meals with their grownup male offspring, and this appears to restrict their possibilities of having extra calves

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Off the Pacific coasts of the US and Canada, orca moms present meals for his or her sons lengthy after they attain maturity, despite the fact that this restricts them from having extra surviving offspring.

Orcas, also referred to as killer whales (Orcinus orca), give beginning after 15 to 18 months of gestation and nurse their younger for about two years. However, within the southern resident populations that dwell off the coasts of Washington state and British Columbia, solely a couple of third of pregnancies …