An orca calf washed up late Saturday on a beach in Ocean Shores, and now researchers are trying to figure out where it came from.
The female newborn was 7-feet 8-inches long. According to Cascadia Research Collective, the whale likely died due to birth-related trauma.
Scientists took a genetic sample to determine whether the whale is part of the transient or Northern Resident orcas or the highly endangered Southern Resident killer whale population. The condition of the whale and its age made it too difficult for scientists to identify the whale's origin by sight alone.
The orca was first found last Wednesday just north of Willapa Bay, but it disappeared and later washed up in Ocean Shores.
