Lummi, orca matriarch presumed dead, was 98

Great-great-great-grandma Lummi – the oldest member of the local orca population – has been missing since December and is presumed dead.

Lummi, the matriarch of the family of orcas known as K pod, is thought to have been born around 1910, give or take 15 years. Her birth year is an estimate based on when she stopped having babies.

Even if the number is off by a decade, 98-year-old Lummi was a pretty old orca. On average, female orcas found around Puget Sound and the waters of the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island live to be about 50.

"The attitude around here is that it's inevitable," said Erin Heydenreich, senior staff member with Friday Harbor's Center for Whale Research. "Every year when the whales come back, we say, 'One of these years we're going to lose one of the old ones.' "

The center carefully tracks and photographs the orcas, which are identified by the shape of their dorsal fin and by the white patch or "saddle" behind the fin.

The animals, known as the Southern residents, typically venture down the Pacific coast in search of salmon in the winter and spring, returning to local waters in the summer.

In 2005, the Southern residents were declared endangered by the federal government. They're threatened by diminished populations of chinook salmon, their favorite food; contamination of industrial chemicals that can reduce their success in having babies and make them more vulnerable to disease; and disturbance by ships that can interrupt their communication and hunting.

Their population is officially 87 orcas, with a new baby discovered in June.

If Lummi's death is confirmed in December, Granny, the 97-year-old matriarch of the J pod and the focus of a Seattle P-I report (seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/brokenpromises), will assume the title of oldest local orca.