Lovey, an adult captive-born orca at Kamogawa SeaWorld with her son Earth.

Dalekal has asked me the following question. This one turns out to be a personal one: "Out of all the marine animals, who is your favorite to work with?"

My Answer: While I am not a trainer at any marine facility(perhaps someday I hope to one), I love them all for a varitey of reasons. But However, my favorite marine mammal would have to be the orca because they are extremely beautiful, intelligent, and amazing animals. I see the orca as an amazing animal that is known as a social animal that lives in tight-knit matrlienal pods in which, animals may spend their entire lives living and traveling with the pod of their birth. There is no question that killer whales, known for their famous breaches and intelligence, are a must have and a wish for many zoological parks. However, only a few facilities like the SeaWorld Adventure Parks house them because killer whales are difficult to keep in captivity. The animals require more exhibitational space, enrichment, and care than the much smaller bottlenose dolphins for orcas are large dolphins. In fact, acquiring a new orca whether if it is for public display or for a breeding loan can take years for the documents for a permit to house them need to be completed as well as papers that would allow the facility to obtain the animal from another facility need to done as well.

Here is a fact on captive orcas: In the 1960's and 70's, a number of killer whales were collected from the Pacific Northwest and were later shipped out to zoological parks.  At the time, the Pacific Northwest was considered to be the most polluted marine ecosystem in the world for many factories were located near the coastline. Most of the animals, whose bodies were allready been filled with PCBs long before entering captivity (as well as those who suffered injuries during the most violent of captures) did not survive in human care for long. Necopsries could have revealed malfunctioned organs, or PCBs in their bodies just like they had with the beluga whales in the St. Lawerence River in Quebec, Canada. When collecting orcas from that region was banned in the late 70's, some biologists turned to collecting specimens from the North Atlantic (Iceland). For the next 12 years, the Icelandic government funded live capture operations on orca populations for public display across the globe. Those operations ended in 1988. In 1985, SeaWorld became the first facility to successfully breed killer whales in human care with the birth of a female orca named Kalina. In 1993, Kalina gave birth to a son at SeaWorld San Antonio, who would later be named Keet. Kalina would go on to have three more calves in 1995, 1999, and 2004. In 2004, Kalina's granddaugther Kalia was born at SeaWorld San Diego, making her the first third-generation killer calf in zoological history. Breeding killer whales in human care wheather if it was natural or through Artifical insemation (Nakai was the first product of this procedure in 2001), has reduced the pressure of acquring a live specimen through a live capture fishery at many facilities that house orcas.

I hope this answer helps answer your question.

~Jenna~

Hello there everyone,

I have now announced that SeaWorld Survey will now become an FAQ blog. This blog will now feature a question one of you ask me on marine mammals, marine mammal conservation, animal training and basic care, marine zoological parks, marine mammal law, and more. All you need to do is you can ask me a question on either this blog, or the UnderSea Guestbook (USGB) and I will pick the one that is going to posted on this blog. Go ahead, fell free to ask me any question you have in mind and I may post it here.

~Jenna~

Note: I may not get to your messages right away so this can mean paitence.

Takara with her new trainer Julie at SeaWorld San Antonio shortly after arriving at the Park from Orlando.

It has been confirmed that Takara has been moved to SeaWorld San Antonio from SeaWorld Orlando, the park where she stayed at since 2004. "Tiki" leaves behind her son Trua(born at SWF in 2005) but since he has been placed with his paternal grandfather Tillikum before Takara's move, he may experience little impact from his mother's transfer. Here is the Article from the SeaWorld site.

NEW HOME FOR KILLER WHALE AT SEAWORLD SAN ANTONIO

Takara, a 17-year-old, 4,640-pound female killer whale, who arrived at SeaWorld San Antonio Thursday, gets to know her trainer, Julie Sigman. Takara joins four other killer whales at SeaWorld San Antonio?s Shamu Theater. Takara and companion killer whales will star in ?Believe,? a captivating and visually stunning show that takes guests on a sensational, breathtaking journey of curiosity and wonder. The park begins its 2009 season Feb. 28.

Note: It is currently unkown wheather or not Takara will get along with her tank mates Unna, Ky, and Tuar. Although it is possible that she will get along with her half brother Keet(he lived with her for a while when they were at SeaWorld San Diego). We can only do is hope for the best out of Takara.

About Takara:

Gender: Female
Length and Weight: 17 feet and 5,000 pounds
Age: 17
Date of Birth: July 9, 1991
Parks: SeaWorld California, SeaWorld Florida and SeaWorld Texas
Breed: 100% Icelandic

Unna, Kyuqout, and Tuar at SeaWorld San Antonio

Like at all three SeaWorld parks, the orcas of SeaWorld Texas do have their own heriachy which consists of one female and three males. The matriach of this pod is Unna and her little pod is made of her half-brother Kyuqout, and her two nephews by her half-sister Kalina(SWF) Keet and Tuar. You may wonder why Keet is not with the three other orcas, the story behind that is that he and Ky do not get along with each other and Ky's dominance will not allow Keet's tolerance(Keet is after all gentle and is called the "Corky of SWT"). This however, makes Keet a low-ranking member of the SWT family and perfers to be either alone or sometimes with his half-brother Tuar.

Here is Keet enjoying himself while getting a daily weight check.

Both Photos were taken by yours truley Jenna Deedy and were taken between July 24th-July25th 2008 During SeaWorld Camp(July23rd-July25th). Do NOT use without permission.

~Jenna~

Orkid on the scale

Ever wonder sometimes why Orkid could be on a scale for, well she is being weighed to check that her weight is healthy. If she was over weight that is, then, the trainers can do is give Orkid exersice and reduce her dies to a different kind of fish(they do NOT give the whales weight-loss drugs because then that would be too dangerous for them). In any way, the weight scale is used to determine how much an animal weighs and to insure the animals are healthy and their weight is fine. Photos taken by Nalani_luvur95 on July 7th, 2008 at SeaWorld San Diego. Do not use these photos without the orginal photographer's permission.

and she is off to the pool.

If you like to contribute to SeaWorld Survey, send some of your recent SeaWorld photos of the orcas, email them at Animaltrainer104@aol.com

Thanks,

~Jenna~

Kayla performing along side with Nalani

July has started off fine for the orcas of SeaWorld Orlando and it seems Kayla has seem to be doing well since she has arrived at the Park in November 2006. She has gotten along with Katina, Kalina, Takara, Trua, and Nalani but has not yet met Tillikum. She did finally met Taima and her daughter Malia last summer but Taima seemed not to be interested in Kayla and just focusing on her own calf instead. Kayla has not been impacted by Halyn's*(her only calf) death since she has only known her for a short period of time but hopefully someday, Kayla may have another calf of her own since she has recently been acting as an auntie to Nalani Recently when Katina(Nalani's mother) is not around. all photos were taken by orcalover109. Do not use these photos anywhere else without the orginal photographer's permission. All photos taken by the photographer were taken on July 3rd, 2008(?).

Note: Much of this information regarding Kayla and Nalani is only assumed from recent photos.

Kalina during a July 3rd show

Tillikum interacting with one of his trainers behind the Shamu Stadium glass walls.

Katina takes a bow for Believe

Kayla makes a splash.

If you have recent photos of the orcas of SeaWorld and what they are now up to in these days regarding hirachery, pregnancy, births, training sessions, behaviors or other, please email them to me at Animaltrainer104@aol.com and thanks,

~Jenna~

Around June 27-28th, 2008, Corky II was doing a training session for Pete(Ken Peters) and Lisa at SeaWorld San Diego for the Dining With Shamu Sessions. Photos taken by Orkidfan. Please do not use any of these photos without the orginal owner's permission.

Corky II is one of main whales who is used for waterwork but only two that dose a behavior where two people are on a single whale at the same time, which is a behavior that Sumar mainly dose for Shamu Rocks shows. Corky and Sumar are the only orcas who present the behavior of having two trainers on their back at the same time.

If you like to contribute to SeaWorld Survey with your photos of what SeaWorld's killer whales may be up to in these days or doing training sessions, then email me at Animaltrainer104@aol.com

Thanks,

~Jenna~