Biggest Orca pool
- Thread starter zooman
- Start date
Seaworld Orlando. The picture is a recent upload.
Thx for the size 12 million. Will check it out.
I had always thought marineland at Antibes, France had the biggest killer whale pool/s, i will look into this.
http://www.marineland.fr/Killer-Whale-Show-N=8a6a65a7-3036-4be4-86f2-8bf6289bb16f-L=EN.aspx
nothing conclusive
http://www.marineland.fr/Killer-Whale-Show-N=8a6a65a7-3036-4be4-86f2-8bf6289bb16f-L=EN.aspx
nothing conclusive
Upali
Well-Known Member
If you want any information on captive orcas this is the site
Orca Homepage
Just go into "orcas in captivity" then scroll down to "facilities"there are some amazing overhead shots of all the pools!
Orca Homepage
Just go into "orcas in captivity" then scroll down to "facilities"there are some amazing overhead shots of all the pools!
Thanks for that orca link Upali, as there are definitely some incredible overhead photos of killer whale tanks. Seeing the whales at Marineland and Six Flags makes it seem how those particular establishments have the animals in tanks that are really too small in this day and age. Even the Seaworld pools, as large as they are, would preferably be much larger. I know that between shows and when animals are separated there can be times when an orca will spend a great deal of its life in a smaller side tank.
Upali
Well-Known Member
Yeah even the biggest pools are not big enough for them, and the newest facility Loro Parque is still very small. Apparently Seaworld Orlando are roughly the same at 12 million but orlando is spilt into alot of very small areas.
I think Seaworld San Diego is the best out of them all at around 9 million, smaller but only spilt into 4 quite big pools.
Also going slightly off topic Seaworlds mangement of the whales throughout the 3 parks is really bad, the worst management of animals ive ever seen.
I think Seaworld San Diego is the best out of them all at around 9 million, smaller but only spilt into 4 quite big pools.
Also going slightly off topic Seaworlds mangement of the whales throughout the 3 parks is really bad, the worst management of animals ive ever seen.
@Upali: What do you mean by the poor management comment in reference to Seaworld? Very intriguing...
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
So weird to see this post--I spent last night trying to figure out which institutions (US) had orcas but had no such luck!
Miami Seaquarium
Sea World Orlando
Sea World San Antonio
Sea World San Diego
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly Marine World)
Although I am not opposed to keeping any animal in captivity per se, I do not believe there is an adequate sized killer whale pool. (Of course, I've only personally seen one - Sea World San Diego). It would be prohibitively expensive to build a pool large enough. Perhaps the best solution would be for an oceanside aquarium to build a large net out into the existing ocean with seats right along the beach. Sea World San Diego is right on the bay and I don't see why they couldn't do it. The water current along California is cold year-round, I'm assuming cold enough for orcas?
Zebraduiker
Well-Known Member
@Upali. Why do yozu mean, the biggest pool isn't big enough for Orca Whales ? Because they are big animals ? In this case, the biggest exhibit wouldn't be big enough for elephants.
I've seen the Orca at Seaworld San Diego, and they are doing very well. They have movement enough, and of the most important reason for movement in the wild is getting food, and ths is not necessary in zoos.
But this means not, to keep orcas aolone as like as Miami is doing that or keeping them in tiny pools.
I've seen the Orca at Seaworld San Diego, and they are doing very well. They have movement enough, and of the most important reason for movement in the wild is getting food, and ths is not necessary in zoos.
But this means not, to keep orcas aolone as like as Miami is doing that or keeping them in tiny pools.
Upali
Well-Known Member
Im not reallo oppossed to orcas in captivity, it would be my dream to work with them but many need much bigger pools. The facilitys are seperate into way too small pools and miami is one the worst keeping of an animal ive ever seem. But not to go into all that.
Even though i would love to work with them myself, the one and only reason they are kept is for entertainment/profit. and the animal mangement of these reflects that with young seperated from mothers very early, family groups randomly splitted up and animals moved left right and centre for breeding and performing.
Even though i would love to work with them myself, the one and only reason they are kept is for entertainment/profit. and the animal mangement of these reflects that with young seperated from mothers very early, family groups randomly splitted up and animals moved left right and centre for breeding and performing.
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
The biggest pool for orcas is not big enough. Personally, I don't see how this is debatable--especially considering that at most places orcas are held...they're not just swimming in circles all day long--they're being show animals. The shortened life span in captivity is due in part to that.
I don't think there's any place that would be able to hold them somewhere where the tanks would be 'big; enough.
Zebraduiker
Well-Known Member
Every animal in a zoo is a "Show animal", and there is no evidence for s shorter lifespan than in thewild, that's what teh animal rightneres are saying,and this people know absoulty nothing about animals .
I've seen the Seaworld Orca Show several times, and I could see taht teh orcas had much to do the show. And if theyy dont want to do a act, they don't have to do .
Strange, you have no problems with elephants, birds of prey or fishes in zoos and aquariums. They all need too much space, which no zoo of the world can offer them.
I've seen the Seaworld Orca Show several times, and I could see taht teh orcas had much to do the show. And if theyy dont want to do a act, they don't have to do .
Strange, you have no problems with elephants, birds of prey or fishes in zoos and aquariums. They all need too much space, which no zoo of the world can offer them.
Zebraduiker
Well-Known Member
Every animal in a zoo is a "Show animal", and there is no evidence for s shorter lifespan than in thewild, that's what teh animal rightneres are saying,and this people know absoulty nothing about animals .
I've seen the Seaworld Orca Show several times, and I could see taht teh orcas had much to do the show. And if theyy dont want to do a act, they don't have to do .
Strange, you have no problems with elephants, birds of prey or fishes in zoos and aquariums. They all need too much space, which no zoo of the world can offer them.
I've seen the Seaworld Orca Show several times, and I could see taht teh orcas had much to do the show. And if theyy dont want to do a act, they don't have to do .
Strange, you have no problems with elephants, birds of prey or fishes in zoos and aquariums. They all need too much space, which no zoo of the world can offer them.
I think that it's hard to argue either way as this appears to be on gut instinct rather than proper evidence, does anyone know of a study regarding Orca pool size or the reason why they seem to have a shorter life-span in captivity (incidently, in the wild it can be up to 50 or 60)? As we know, size is not everything, and studies have shown that giving an animal in a barren enclosure twice as much more empty space does not lead to any behavioural changes suggesting that welfare is not improved. In fact, I would go so far as to say (and this is without witnessing the training methods or shows themselves) that the Sea World shows provide excellent enrichment for the animals and are probably more important than adding an extra few million gallons to the pools. As okapikpr said on another thread, there is always more we can do for animals, however, in the case of Orcas, is it simply 'we can do more', or is there a true welfare problem...
tigertiger
Well-Known Member
All animals in zoos are made to perform on cue daily? They're made to beach out of the water and do jumps on signal and carry their keepers? There's a feature at Seaworld where you can pay a large sum of money to eat dinner with 'Shamu' sitting besides your dining table. I'm sorry but if you can't see a difference between that and an elephant at a zoo, I don't really think there's any point of having a conversation.
How is the fact that most marine biologist state orcas can live 50 to 60 years in the wild versus the fact that a good amount of known orcas [a href="http://www.orcahome.de/orcadead.htm"]never pass 30[a/] in captivity not evidence and something that people with no knowledge of animals say?
Strange, you make assumptions of my opinions without actually asking them.
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tigertiger
Well-Known Member
I've never seen an 'official' study on the matter (I don't think one exists yet) but I don't think for the purposes of the tank argument that it does. They do live shorter lives in capacity. Contrary to what zebraduiker states, this isn't PETA propaganda, it's just something that happens. I'd think that it's probably more the addition stress animals in performance have to face that does it to them but again...it's not like there's a study to proof anything out there.
I do think your right that it's always going to be more of a 'gut' thing than anything else with people. Do I think they need more space? Sure, I think manatees do too. Are they going to get it? No. Does it have an affect on their life span? We can't know, really. Few of us have the qualifications on this forum to get the funding to perform a study on the matter either who.
But--for me--when it comes down to it, animals that are made to perform should have larger spaces when not performing so that they can at least 'chill out' a while. Then again, I don't think there's much value in animals performing large scale scheduled shows and tricks. There's a big difference to me between telling an animal to jump and sitting it on a table and pulling a chinchilla out of a cage for education.