J18 Everett

J18 was the first calf and only son of J10 Tahoma. He was born in 1977 and was very close to his mother and grandmother J9 Neah. Over the years, J18 gained two younger sister. The first was J20 Ewok who was born in 1981 and his youngest sister, J22 Oreo, was born in 1985. The same year J22 was born, his grandmother J9 disappeared.

The J10′s were a very tight knit pod and could almost always be seen together. J18 became an uncle for the first time in 1996 when J20 gave birth to a female calf: J32 Rhapsody. He was very caring towards the new calf in the pod and often “babysat” her while his sister hunted down salmon. He became an uncle again in 1998 when his youngest sister gave birth to a son, J34 Doublestuf, who bore a striking resemblance to J18. 

The same year that his nephew was born, his sister J20 Ewok disappeared. J18 was quick to adopt her daughter while his youngest sister was busy with her newborn calf. They were almost inseparable with one was rarely seen without the other swimming by their side.  

In late 1999, his mother J10 Tahoma disappeared. Not long after, he himself passed away at the age of 22 and washed ashore in Tsawassen, Canada leaving his 14 year old sister to care for two young calves by herself. A necropsy revealed that an infected cut caused blood poisoning. Not only that but he had an extremely high level of toxins in his body as well as a nonexistent sperm count. This led researchers to ponder about the effect that pollution was having on the genetic diversity among the SRKW population. 

Today, only two members of his pod are still alive: his youngest sister J22 Oreo and her son J38 Cookie. The young niece and nephew that he helped raise passed away in 2014 and 2016 respectively. 

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Citizen Scientist: John Allen