In some researchers’ eyes, Tahlequah grieved. She swam with her calf draped on her snout, its taut body eerily alive and white parts still glowing baby orange, eyespots glimmering in the moonlight. When the calf slipped away, she took six or seven breaths and dove, deeply, to retrieve it. She carried him this way for six days, continuously nudging him away from sinking until he no longer looked like a sleeping calf but a dead one, rigid animal form melting away. Eventually the other killer whales in her pod took turns keeping the dead baby afloat, nosing its body around like a beach
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