Researchers learn gender of 1-year-old killer whale in Puget Sound

Whale watchers aboard a Puget Sound Express whale watching vessel out of Edmonds got a surprise Monday in the form of an unexpected gender reveal.

Driving the news: Kyla Bivens, a naturalist on board the "Swiftsure," was able to snap a photo of the underside of a 1-year-old Bigg's killer whale that showed the calf was a boy.

• That’s the first time the gender of "Tread" or TO46B1's second living child has been documented, Erin Gless, the executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association, told Axios.
• Whale watchers also saw two other members of Tread's family: her 8-year-old daughter, Tsakani and her cousin Sam, as well as a Humpback whale named "Zephyr."