The world did, too. Bigg, Balcomb, and their colleagues used their data to study the lifelong bonds between mothers and their children, to study their complex communications, and to work out why orcas are among just three animal species that go through menopause. Their discoveries led to public outrage over captures. These weren’t creatures that could be yanked from the wild without consequence. They’re recognizable individuals, with families that can be broken, and friendships that can be severed.

Some of the southern residents started off shy, but have become emboldened through the years. “They pull these little pranks when they know people are watching them,” says Balcomb. “When everyone’s on the port side, they’ll swim under the boat, and pop up on the starboard.” (I witnessed J26, named Mike, after Bigg, do this to me on a whale-watching trip a few years ago.)

Others were exuberant from the start. Scarlet had a difficult birth, but shortly after she started leaping out of the water. She’s now known for her boisterous nature, and her signature move where she arches her back into a crescent. “One of our volunteers watched her breaching 40 times in a row,” says Giles. “That’s a lot of energy and you can’t help but think it feels good—or weird. You’re buoyant and then suddenly under the influence of gravity. [But in her emaciated state] I don’t think anyone has seen her breach for quite a long time.”

Giles describes Tahlequah as an “incredibly attentive mother” that played with her first calf, Notch (J47), more than most orca moms. Since Notch was born in 2010, it’s likely that Tahlequah has gone through at least one failed pregnancy, if not two. That, combined with her personality, might explain her incredible 17-day mourning period. “Think about a female going through those pregnancy hormones, growing a fetus, and then losing it—twice,” says Giles. “And then finally, she has a full-term calf, and after a breath, it dies. It’s not surprising that she was grieving to the degree that she was.”

Balcomb goes even further. “It’s a little bit of anthropomorphism, but I think she was letting everyone else know she was grieving,” he says. “They’re very intelligent. They know people are out there: I’ve seen them look at boats hauling fish out in nets. I think they know that humans are somehow related to the scarcity of food. And I think they know that the scarcity of food is causing them physical distress, and also causing them to lose babies.”

There is no way of knowing for sure if that’s what Tahlequah was doing. Many scientists would undoubtedly accuse Balcomb of inappropriately casting human feelings and motivations onto another species, without extraordinary evidence for his extraordinary claims. Others would argue that it is more ludicrous to deny the mental capabilities and emotional lives of these animals.