Hello from Iceland!

ketoflukes

ketoflukes

Well-Known Member
Hi Zoochat!
After spending almost a year lurking on the forum in the shadows, I finally decided to create an account and become a part of the community! I joined a few months ago, so the introduction might be a little late, but it's an introduction nonetheless! I am a wildlife and zoo photographer from the land of fire and ice (more commonly known as Iceland), and I've been in the zoo enthusiast community since around 2016! Unfortunately, we don't have your traditional zoo here in Iceland, except for a small little family park with a few harbor seals and reptiles, so I live vicariously through all of your zoo visits on the forum :p We do, however, have the worlds first sanctuary for beluga whales which I visited for the first time recently and was super exciting. Since 2015, I have visited a total of 15 zoos and aquariums, such as the Berlin Zoo, Loro Parque, Phoenix Zoo, ZSL London Zoo, and the Berlin Tierpark. I am particularly interested in marine mammals and penguins within zoos, and my all time favorite animal to see in a zoological setting is the polar bear. I am also very interested in ecology and I am currently working towards a career in the Cetology field. I am looking forward to sharing my zoo visits and photos on here, and I hope you all have a lovely day!
 
Welcome to Zoochat.:) It's never too late to introduce yourself. I myself introduced myself more than a year later!

I too love cetaceans and thus, know 'Keto' is the greek word for 'Sea monster', and also the name of an orca at loro parque (which you said you've visited)! Not sure if that influenced your username choice or not.:D
 
Jambo said:
Welcome to Zoochat.:) It's never too late to introduce yourself. I myself introduced myself more than a year later!

I too love cetaceans and thus, know 'Keto' is the greek word for 'Sea monster', and also the name of an orca at loro parque (which you said you've visited)! Not sure if that influenced your username choice or not.:D
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Yes! It definitely did! Keto is my all time favourite orca and an animal I cherish a lot. I’ve visited him twice before <3 He’s very special to me. And thank you!
 
ketoflukes said:
Yes! It definitely did! Keto is my all time favourite orca and an animal I cherish a lot. I’ve visited him twice before <3 He’s very special to me. And thank you!
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I've followed him for many years now, and he's one of the most athletic males i've seen; almost as athletic as Ulises. He looks at lot like his mother, Kalina. Especially those eye patches!
 
Jambo said:
I've followed him for many years now, and he's one of the most athletic males i've seen; almost as athletic as Ulises. He looks at lot like his mother, Kalina. Especially those eye patches!
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I'm always impressed by the height he can reach too, especially compared to Keet! And definitely, out of all of Kalina's offspring I think he inherited her genes the most. Almost a copy paste of her!
 
ketoflukes said:
I'm always impressed by the height he can reach too, especially compared to Keet! And definitely, out of all of Kalina's offspring I think he inherited her genes the most. Almost a copy paste of her!
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Keet's a lazy boy. Since he's a gentle whale, he was often trained by rookie trainers in his earlier years, and thus was poorly reinforced. San Diego has tried to correct this over the years, but they haven't managed to change much unfortunately.

I think Skyla too looked a lot like Kalina. Keet is almost a mirror image of his father, Kotar.
 
Welcome! I've done my best to keep Zoochat updated on things Icelandic from the UK over the last few years, so it's good to have somebody who's actually there to take over! I've enjoyed three holidays in your amazing country and it's my idea of scenic heaven - volcanic and glacial, rawness and wildness. A geology textbook brought to life. I'm currently glued to the webcams showing the latest eruption and am addicted to Reykjavik Grapevine's newscasts :)
 
Gigit said:
Welcome! I've done my best to keep Zoochat updated on things Icelandic from the UK over the last few years, so it's good to have somebody who's actually there to take over! I've enjoyed three holidays in your amazing country and it's my idea of scenic heaven - volcanic and glacial, rawness and wildness. A geology textbook brought to life. I'm currently glued to the webcams showing the latest eruption and am addicted to Reykjavik Grapevine's newscasts :)
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Thank you! It's very nice to see that someone has been keeping up with our little zoos here (I even learned some new information from your threads on the Iceland forum!), they are very often forgotten about. That is so exciting! I am incredibly interested and drawn to the wilderness, wildlife, and geology history here too, so I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed your visit! Any particular place or sight that you enjoyed the most? And haha, I am the same :D Always have the webcams up on my screen. It's such an impressive eruption!
 
Jambo said:
Keet's a lazy boy. Since he's a gentle whale, he was often trained by rookie trainers in his earlier years, and thus was poorly reinforced. San Diego has tried to correct this over the years, but they haven't managed to change much unfortunately.

I think Skyla too looked a lot like Kalina. Keet is almost a mirror image of his father, Kotar.
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It makes me wonder what his true athletic capabilities are/were, and if he could have been on par with Uli had he been adequately reinforced from the beginning!

Absolutely! Kalina's genes are very well represented in her offspring.
 
ketoflukes said:
It makes me wonder what his true athletic capabilities are/were, and if he could have been on par with Uli had he been adequately reinforced from the beginning!

Absolutely! Kalina's genes are very well represented in her offspring.
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He's a very lazy whale, but i'd imagine he could be up there if he tried. Ulises is a wonder; he's one of the most athletic orcas I know of. It's surprising he's still maintaining his athletic ability as he gets older.

Katina's a very athletic whale too, so I think that might be where Keto gets his genes from.

There were talks of artificially inseminating Kalina at the time of her death. Some believe she may have been in the early stages of pregnancy at the time, but who knows. The donor was apparently Kshamenk; although it's also argued it may have been Ulises too.
 
ketoflukes said:
Thank you! It's very nice to see that someone has been keeping up with our little zoos here (I even learned some new information from your threads on the Iceland forum!), they are very often forgotten about. That is so exciting! I am incredibly interested and drawn to the wilderness, wildlife, and geology history here too, so I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed your visit! Any particular place or sight that you enjoyed the most? And haha, I am the same :D Always have the webcams up on my screen. It's such an impressive eruption!
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I'd be hard pressed to single out a particular place in an island full of unique experiences! I remember my geography teacher saying that once you'd learned something about physical geography, you'd never be able to look at scenery without thinking about how it had formed and she was right. We could have done with a geology professor sitting in the back explaining everything as we drove round. And then there were all the unusual, to us, birds and we even spotted an Arctic fox. And wind strong enough to nearly blow us off our feet! And the icy blasts at Hofn campsite requiring coat, hat and gloves in June......
Are you going to join the hike out to Meradalir?
 
Gigit said:
I'd be hard pressed to single out a particular place in an island full of unique experiences! I remember my geography teacher saying that once you'd learned something about physical geography, you'd never be able to look at scenery without thinking about how it had formed and she was right. We could have done with a geology professor sitting in the back explaining everything as we drove round. And then there were all the unusual, to us, birds and we even spotted an Arctic fox. And wind strong enough to nearly blow us off our feet! And the icy blasts at Hofn campsite requiring coat, hat and gloves in June......
Are you going to join the hike out to Meradalir?
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Definitely agree! And wow, lucky you! I still haven’t spotted an Arctic Fox and I live here haha :D Your geology teacher is so correct. I took a semester of geology and everywhere I go now, I can’t help but think about how the nature came to be there. It has allowed me to appreciate it more! And oh yes the summer can be so cold too sometimes and the wind is absolutely criminal! Just yesterday I was stood outside at the glacier lagoon freezing in multiple heavy layers of clothing. We’re actually having the coldest summer in decades currently!

Yes! I definitely plan to. I didn’t get the opportunity to hike up there last year so I don’t want to miss it now!
 
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