The world’s oldest known orca is missing in action and presumed dead. Officially called J2, but affectionately known as Granny, she has been swimming the waters off the coast of Vancouver and Seattle for at least 100 years. Unfortunately, she has not been seen since October.

“Perhaps other dedicated whale-watchers have seen her since then, but by year’s end she is officially missing from the [Southern Resident Killer Whale] population, and with regret we now consider her deceased,” writes Kenneth C. Balcomb, from the Center for Whale Research (CWR), who have been following J2 and her kin over the decades. When first identified in 1987, she was thought to be around 76 years old, meaning she would have been born the year before the Titanic sailed.

“We have now seen J2 thousands of times in the past forty years, and in recent years she has been in the lead of J pod virtually every time that she has been seen by anyone,” continues Balcomb, who was one of the last to officially see Granny.

But more than simply being a local celebrity, Granny has been teaching biologists about a stage of life found only in a handful of species. Only three mammals are known to go through menopause: humans, short-finned pilot whales, and killer whales. With Granny living way beyond her reproductive years, she has provided valuable insight into why older females continue to live even though they can no longer pass on their genes, while in most other species they die.