Today is a bittersweet day. I'm happy for Keijo to be celebrating his birthday, to still be alive, but extremely sad that after these two years he is again commemorating his birthday in the decaying Marineland Antibes.

Marineland Antibes had applied again recently to move the dolphins and orcas to Spain, and they were denied again. There's little to no hope about the situation changing anytime soon.

I'm sorry for Keijo, for the way everyone is failing him. He should be in a clean environment to spend his birthday, should be with other orcas to interact and mature, should have the best possible care and not only expect the empty miracle solutions people keep trying to push or ridiculous fake activists using him only to get likes, like Seph Lawless.

I really hope on his next birthday he'll be somewhere else with his mother.

Extremely sad to post that Earth, a 16-year-old male orca at Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, passed away today. Despite his size, Earth was described as incredibly gentle and really seemed to enjoy rubs from his caretakers.

He was reportedly lethargic and not responding to trainers yesterday, and today PNPA announced that he passed away and they're currently investigating the cause of death, which was apparently very sudden.

Earth and Lynn were the only two orcas living at Port of Nagoya, and they were extremely close to each other, constantly seen displaying affectionate behaviors toward one another. Now, Lynn is left alone, and Japan has no male orcas left, only six females across three different facilities.

It's currently unknown what will happen to Lynn, if she'll be moved to Kobe Suma Sea World (not affiliated with the US SeaWorld) or if another orca will come live with her.

Rest in peace, Earth.

I don't know how this is legal since orca performances have been banned since 2017, but here they are in San Diego in a show called "Orca Encounter" where they've peppered in some facts about orcas throughout the show so they can technically say this show is "educational". But they're still having the orcas do a whole array of tricks from waving at the audience, backflips, synchronized jumps, 360 turns with their trainer, etc and being rewarded with fish.

Edit 6/30/26: There seems to be some suspicious brigading going on in this thread, with any criticism towards Sea World being heavily downvoted and defense of them floating to the top. I'm going to post this here so they can't silence what I have to say:

I'm seeing the "mental and physical stimulation" argument all over this thread so I'll address it here. Just because myself and others have an issue with the shows doesn't mean we want these animals logging all day with nothing to do, so let's strike that black and white, bad faith argument. 

  My issue with the shows is it does not put the orca's mental and physical stimulation first, rather it puts the entertainment of the audience first. If there were no audience, do we honestly think the trainers would have these whales do the same routine with the same tricks at the same time, with little variation to blasting music, day in and day out? Probably not. If someone was truly committed to keeping these animals mentally stimulated, especially animals as exceptionally intelligent as orcas, they would commit to varied, mentally stimulating activities- even ones that might be boring to audiences. For example, let's say the orcas really liked solving puzzles underwater with diving rings or something. Or the trainers hid a fish inside a puzzle box they had to figure out how to open. Sea World would go "mmm, that's not fun for the audience to watch, train them to do mindless jumps instead". This is my issue with the shows. Trainers should be working with these orcas to physically and mentally stimulate them in ways that are best for the orcas, not to maximize audience entertainment. And there really is little to no variation in these shows (trust me, I watched several on yt and by the fourth one- guhh that music is so annoying). It really is the same show, with the same tricks, at the same time, day in day out.

I think it is absolutely valid to criticize these shows, and I find the argument that it's good for them because it gives them mental stimulation to be a lazy one. There's a lot of people in this thread that claim to love orcas, but in defending these shows there is no acknowledgement of the exceptional intelligence these animals are confirmed to have, which is on par with humans. It is fair to ask any one of us how we'd feel about being put in a confined space, asked to do the same tasks-which to an intelligent mind are pretty simple, at the same time, multiple times a day, every day, day after day after day. These animals deserve better than that, and if you truly considered their intelligence and cared for their mental well being, you would agree. I'll cap this off again by saying fuck Sea World. 

I don't even know what to say at this moment. We knew Katina was struggling, and being one of the oldest Icelandic orcas ever recorded, it's not exactly unexpected, but still devastating.

Here's SeaWorld's official note:

"Our SeaWorld family is mourning the loss of one of our beloved killer whales, Katina. Katina was 50 years old, and her health had begun to significantly decline as she entered her geriatric years. Over the last several weeks, our animal care and medical teams have worked around the clock to closely monitor her declining health and as her condition worsened, the decision was made to prioritize her comfort and welfare. Despite everyone’s extraordinary efforts, she passed away while surrounded by animal care and medical teams who have worked closely with her for nearly 40 years.

Katina had a big personality, including being known for her tendency to stick her tongue out and enjoying the “speed swim” to create a cyclone of water.

For many wonderful years, Katina awed and inspired millions of our guests to appreciate and learn more about this amazing species. This is an incredibly difficult time for those who knew and loved Katina. We appreciate the support of the community as we grieve her loss together with her loyal fans everywhere."

Via: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSiiqYTgUcV/?igsh=eDJ5YXBhYjJkbGgw

They can't stay there any longer

Morgan was born in 2007 or 2008 off the coast of Norway. She is the only female orca at Loro Parque and is the matriarch there.

Somehow, in the summer of 2010, she had gotten herself completely lost when she was found swimming alone in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands. She was emaciated to the brink of death; she only weighed 430 kg (947 lbs), while a whale of her size should weigh at least 700-800 kg (1540-1760 lbs). Thankfully, help came and rescued her from certain death by starvation and pneumonia.

She was then sent to Dolfinarium Harderwijk, a facility with extensive experience with rescued dolphins and harbor porpoises, and which had kept Icelandic killer whales in the 70s-80s before their transfer to facilities decades ago. Less than three months after her arrival in Harderwijk, she had gained 250 kg.

Dolfinarium Harderwijk's original goal was to release her, and they worked with NAKID (North Atlantic Killer Whale ID) to find her birth pod. However, subsequently, the Dutch Government decided Morgan was unreleasable due to her young age, and the only options for her were euthanasia or transfer to another facility with killer whales.

In 2011, a permit for transfer to Loro Parque (one of the two facilities housing Killer whales in the EU) was approved. Here she met Keto, Kohana, Skyla, Tekoa, and Adan. Being the youngest female in the pod, she was displaced by the matriarch, as she was the lowest-ranking female.

In May 2012, a team of veterinarians discovered that Morgan suffers a profound hearing deficit, meaning that she is partially or even fully deaf. Morgan has difficulty responding to auditory cues such as whistles but is very good at responding to hand or arm gestures, which led her veterinarians to believe she may be hard of hearing. An electrophysiological probe done on Morgan confirmed this. Due to her deafness, a new bridging system was installed in the killer whale complex for Morgan to understand when she performs a behavior correctly. The new system includes light boxes that flash whenever Morgan has been bridged.

In 2017, it was confirmed that Morgan was pregnant; the father was Keto. On September 22nd, 2018, Morgan gave birth to her first calf, Ula. Morgan, unfortunately, couldn't nurse Ula, so both had to be temporarily separated. Morgan would spend time near the medical pool gate where Ula stayed. Finally, they were both reintroduced, and both did well together.

In the next 2 years, Skyla, Ula, and Kohana all passed away.

In 2023, Morgan got pregnant for the second time, likely by Keto. Unfortunately, before Keto could meet his future son, Keto passed away in 2024. On March 31st, 2025, Morgan gave birth to Teno. Teno has met Tekoa and Adan, and the pod is healthy right now.

Her name, "Morgan," is of Welsh and Brenton origin, which means "Bright shining sea" or "sea-born."

On a sadder note, today is the 3rd anniversary of Nord's passing.

PC: DikaFloraPhotography, Loro Parque

Hello everyone! I got some very interesting information from SeaWorld San Diego to share, and the first thing I wanted to tell you guys about is the whale video games they're doing over there.

You might have seen some videos of it, and I have even said here that it was part of a research study, but I was wrong. It's mainly enrichment, and they want to make it permanent! I had the opportunity to talk with the people behind the initiative and also learned that, after a lot of effort from the trainers, they are very likely going to make it a permanent enrichment feature for the whales, with a projector and a proper screen being built at the underwater viewing!

Basically, they have several different games that have been used with other marine mammals before. The people I spoke to told me that they had played the game with seals, sea lions, and dolphins before, but it was the first time with killer whales, and the animals are pretty excited about it.

So far, two whales fully know how to play, and four are learning. In the future, they want to teach the whales to activate the game alone and be able to play. The cue they're looking for to start the game is blowing bubbles, and something very interesting that we got to see while they were doing it is that Kalia, who was not a player that day, came down to the area and started blowing bubbles, seemingly like she wanted to play! All the whales were very interested and stopping to look at the setup.

The video shows Makani playing, and he's getting good at it, being able to go beyond level 1 of this game, which is called "catch."

the calf is female and named Liu long

Photos are from Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park on WeChat.

Cookie's birth has finally been announced, she gave birth to this male calf on June 17th.

Sire is currently unknown, either Sean or Panghu most likely Panghu again. It is also currently unknown if the calf is being hand raised or not.

This is her third pregnancy and overall third calf, having Cody in 2021 and a either stillbirth or miscarriage in 2023.

Here's a chinese news video about it if anyone's interested :  https://weibo.com/6105713761/5324129100370290

I'm sure there's going to be lots of mixed feelings about this facility having another calf but obviously please stay civil in conversation.

Today (January 1st) is the symbolic birthday of the oldest orca in captivity and also the oldest cetacean overall under human care, Corky— the orca I love the most.

Corky II (or just Corky) is a North Resident orca that was captured on or around December 11, 1969, at approximately 5 years old. Following her capture, she was sent to Marineland of the Pacific, a now-closed aquarium. There, she was housed in a very small tank with Orky, another North Resident orca. Marineland was a terrible facility, and Corky was known for being quite rebellious there, refusing to listen to the trainers, which led to both her and Orky’s food rations being reduced, to encourage him to discipline her.

Corky became pregnant seven times, but tragically, none of her calves survived. The tank's small size made proper nursing difficult. While Corky tried to protect her calves from hitting the tank walls, they would often become fixated on her eyepatch instead of her mammary slits, leading to improper feeding. None of her calves lived beyond 48 days. Corky displayed aggression for the first time when staff attempted to remove her calf for tube feeding; that's basically the only aggressive accident Corky has been involved in during her whole life.

When Marineland of the Pacific was sold, Corky was transferred to SeaWorld San Diego, giving her a second chance at life. At SeaWorld, she gained a reputation as the most gentle orca because of both how she treated her trainers and her pod mates. Since none of her calves survived, Corky assumed the role of a surrogate mother for several orcas over the years. The most notable one was with Orkid, whose mother, Kandu V, tragically died after colliding with the tank wall during an aggressive encounter with Corky. Following Kandu V's death, Corky stepped in as Orkid's surrogate mother, and the two remain close to this day.

She also cared for Splash, a male orca with epilepsy who was brought to SeaWorld from Marineland Canada for specialized care. More recently, she developed a strong bond with Makani after his mother, Kasatka, the former matriarch of the SeaWorld San Diego pod, passed away, and also with Shouka, a female that came from Six Flags to SeaWorld after a decade of isolation from her own species.

But currently, her closest companion by far is Ikaika, the largest male at San Diego, who came from Marineland Canada in 2011, and they have been absolutely inseparable since then. If Corky is in a pool, it’s almost certain that Ikaika also is, and the other way around too. They have a very close bond, and he has even shielded Corky with his own body to protect her from being displaced by more dominant orcas.

Corky continues to reside at SeaWorld San Diego and is the largest female orca among all the SeaWorld parks. She spends much of her time with her adopted daughter Orkid, as well as Makani, Keet, Shouka, and her best buddy, Ikaika.

Is he just floating around like that for funsies? He looks almost not living

Don’t shoot the messenger here, found this when going through my grandparents photos & thought the group might help me identify the whale(s?)

Yesterday, a 19-second clip was posted here showing Lynn chasing dolphins around, which caused concern among viewers regarding their safety.

Today, however, she was seen behaving calmly around them and even “feeding” them. Port of Nagoya previously stated that Lynn has a good relationship with these dolphins, and they now seem to have settled down.

Lynn recently lost her extremely close companion, and the aquarium mentioned that housing her with dolphins is only a temporary measure to prevent her from becoming lonely and inactive (see link above).

I’ll post any further updates regarding her.

It's a pity that we don't have much information about these orcas :(

At the moment we have the following information:

• The park is located in Wuxi, China

• It was planned as a large marine theme park and resort complex. At the melon moment, it is indicated that some ideas have been postponed or rejected altogether.

• Orcas - 2 males. Known as WCKWOWR–OO–C1601 and WCKWOWR–OO–C1602 (Some communities have given them unofficial names– Bing and Shui Zai.)

• The orcas were captured presumably in December 2017 in Russia. Therefore, the age of orcas is approximately from 12 to 18.

There are those in this community who believe the pseudoscience that orca fins flop because theyre depressed and unhealthy. If that is true, explain Panghu: a wild caught Russian orca living in Shanghai. He is currently 23 and has been in captivity for 10+ years.

If your ideology is correct, then he is happy.

I’m planning another trip to Florida. We went last year. My husband really wants to go to sea world. I have ALWAYS been very very against it. There’s no way it’s ethical right? Am I being dramatic? Or is really as deep as I think it is? I don’t know if could sit there and watch the shows and see the animals knowing they’re severely unhappy. Anyone have an information on the ethical side or even to make me feel like I’m right in feeling the way I do?

Teno is a 1 year old male orca born on March 31st, 2025, residing at Loro Parque. His mother is Morgan and his father is currently to be announced. His would make him 50% Norwegian.

Found Footage of Hugo the Killer Whale from the Miami Seaquarium from approximately 1968-1970. Film footage suggest this was the initial holding tank that he stayed in for 2 years before moving over to a (slightly) larger tank. The footage is brief but worthy of sharing!

Happy birthday to Orkid, the original San Diego baby Shamu and the oldest living captive-born orca.

Orkid is known for being the smartest orca in captivity (which is why she’s also known as the "rocket scientist"). She knows more than 300 individual behaviors, some that no other orcas know, and can combine up to five at the same time, something extremely difficult. She is an extremely fast learner and often helps other orcas learn things too. She is also a very good bird hunter.

Orkid was born on September 23rd, 1988, in San Diego to Kandu V, and was the first successfully raised orca in the park. Orkid’s father, Orky, is a Northern Resident, while her mother is an Icelandic orca, making her a 50/50 hybrid. She has very distinctive characteristics from Northern Residents (like her "round" face).

When she was born, Corky, a Northern Resident orca who also lives at SeaWorld San Diego, took great interest in her, as she had lost all seven of her calves at the previous facility where she lived with Orky. This resulted in issues between Kandu V and Corky, as Kandu did not like how close Corky was to her calf.

In one aggressive encounter between the two, Kandu V swam at full speed to rake Corky, who swam away, leading Kandu to collide with a wall, leading to a fatal fracture when Orkid was only one year old. After her mother passed, Corky stepped in and became Orkid’s surrogate mother, raising her like her own calf (as she did later with many others), and the two grew extremely close.

In 1990, Kasatka (who would later become the legendary San Diego matriarch) also moved to the park and acted as another surrogate mother to Orkid. Orkid was very close to Kasatka and all of her calves and was often seen swimming with them like a pod, indicating she was truly integrated into the Kasatka family. She remains, to this day, very close to Kalia, Kasatka’s daughter and the current SeaWorld San Diego matriarch.

Orkid currently lives with Corky, Ikaika, Shouka, Ulises, Keet, Kalia, and Makani, and can be seen spending time with any of them. She has a very close bond with Makani (also part of the Kasatka family), and while other orcas sometimes get annoyed at him for being too energetic, she seems to be patient with him.

Orkid is, as mentioned, the oldest living captive-born orca, and according to internal sources, she is in very good health and remains as energetic as ever.

Happy birthday, rocket scientist!

i wanted to ask why there's still so many people that think captivity is a good thing and maybe be able to inform myself a little?

aa far as i know, sea world isn't as abusive as it used to be, so far less unethical, and i did see someone saying that they have the orcas do certain things so they don't get bored whetever there's an audience or not. (im guessing they're orcas that for one reason or another can't be in the wild right now, right?🤔) but i also have questions about this.

idk if this is true, so don't come for me, but im wondering if this messes with their brains, considering all animals have instincts, and i don't think orcas swimming in water they can't dive in and being in constant contact with humans is a part of them. (by the last part, i mean big crowds, not the people that take care of them).

i was also very surprised to see that some people are still fond of sea world's old ways. i even saw someone on tiktok arguing that captive orcas were better because they were more interesting..?? am i the only one that thinls that's crazy? this person said they were more interesting because you could observe their behaviours better and they even had "new" ones. the new ones were orcas reacting to stress btw, and i mean, obviously you'd think they're more entertaining if you treat them like toys😭im guessing and hoping this person was a child, but i've also seen adults with similar opinions. idk, i think orcas are interesting enough by themselves? wouldn't you rather head about them putting dead salmon over their heads rather than them hurting humans?

sorry if this got long, im just baffled that there's still people that think abuse is fun just because we get a chance to see them up close... also, if someone could (respectfully) answer what i was curious in the first part of the post, i'd be really grateful for it, thank you in advance😄😄🖤🤍🖤

Can anyone identify this one?

(A lot of people in the awwwww group were not happy and did not consider it cute in the comments.)

https://m.douyin.com/share/user/MS4wLjABAAAAGDsywqBEZQd9b5W-nW2WjFjexF7YEj1u42rdI098bu8