Nellie Juan (AB17)
Nellie
Juan is an adult female and was first photographed in 1979. She has three
surviving offspring, Zaikof (AB35) an adult male, Eshamy (AB
43) a juvenile born during the winter of '87-'88 and Irish (AB54), a calf
that was born in 1998. These whales are nearly always seen traveling together
near the other members of their pod (AB pod)
which currently includes 25 whales. We suspect that Nellie Juan is
at about 43 years old and perhaps at the end of her calf bearing years, although
she may live to age 60 or older. She is about 22 feet long and probably weighs
over 3 tons. AB pod was one of the first pods photographed in the Sound with
pictures dating back to 1979. In 1985 and 1986 AB pod began taking fish off
the hooks of blackcod fishermen. Some whales were bullet wounded by shots
from angry fishermen. Nellie Juan received wounds in 1985 but has
apparently recovered. In recent years the shooting has stopped and we have
not seen new wounds. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 many
members of this pod of then 36 whales disappeared. Two of Nellie Juan's
offspring (AB13 and AB20) died after the spill.
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