Jan 07, 2015 01:59 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The birth of a baby orca whale, named J-50 for now, is a much-needed signal of hope for an endangered pod in the state of Washington.

According to Live Science, J-Pod lives in the Puget Sound, an alcove in the Pacific Ocean, and recently suffered a potentially devastating setback. J-50 is barely more than a week old and is the first newborn in J-Pod for about two years.

About a month ago, a 19-year-old pregnant female called J-32 died before giving birth and scientists determined the bacterial disease that killed the mother also killed the baby. Ken Balcomb, a scientist at the Center for Whale Research, said the birth of J-50 was a ray of hope for J-Pod.

"The loss of J-32 was a disturbing setback," Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Live Science. "We lost a lot of reproductive potential."

Balcomb and his associates believe a 43-year-old orca named J-16 is J-50's mother, but acknowledged the newborn could also belong to J-36. According to data from the NOAA, some 35 percent to 45 percent of baby orca whales die within their first year of life.

If J-50 survives its first year of life, scientists would have good reason to be excited for J-Pod.

"Oh, it'll get a cool name if it survives," Balcomb told the Washington Post. "'Miracle' is the name that's already been used, but that was 30 years ago. Maybe we can do it again.

"We're going to take every opportunity to get out and see if it's still doing well.

"And if it is a teenage mother, she ought to be over trauma by now."

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