Only 73 Southern Resident Orcas Exist in the Wild. Scientists Just Discovered that 3 of them are Pregnant

“Killer whales reproduce very slowly, so it’s hard to recover the population”, said John Durban, who made the discovery alongside his wife and research partner, Holly Fearnbach. “Deaths are outpacing births.” Since 1998, 44 Southern Residents have been born, but in that same timeframe, 81 have died or disappeared.