Captive Orca Population

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Sacchi said:
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree!. When I said 'they are really knocking them out', it wasn't a compliment.

I worry she will be another Taima. I worry what they will do when the tank reaches compacity very soon. I worry how it will affect Katniss (was she forcibly weaned early due to this rushed pregnancy?).

Any place that has a chimpanzee that jumps through hoops of fire on the backs of hippos, tightrope walking elephants, or bears riding motorbikes, has no interest in conservation. [EDIT - I just noticed, the lion and tiger at 7.20 have had their teeth removed. Possibly declawed too].

They essentially run a breeding mill, not a zoo. They overstock all their enclosures and allow all their animals to breed unhindered with no thought to individual health or genetics and I worry they will do the same with the orca if they can.

Chimelong do some good things - their aviaries seem to be world class, they seem to make an effort to provide most animals with a decent diet, they are one of the few Chinese marine parks to have a cetacean rescue, rehab and release program, and they have made more of an effort with their killer whale tank design than any other facility since SeaWorld in the 80's. But that doesn't cancel out the bad. You can't tell me that they can have so many unique species without buying from the black market or funding wildlife trafficking.
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I had no idea that they had those circus sort of shows with land animals as well! How absolutely horrible : ( you’re right, Chimelong is the exotic animal equivalent of a puppy mill (I’m sorry if i misread your tone). I also wonder how Katniss will be impacted by her mother having a new calf so soon after having her. It certainly can’t be good for any of the calves’ development for their mother to have to look after and teach not one, not two, but three dependent-age calves (even if the older two are weaned, they are still at an age where they’re very much dependent on their mother and would stay by her side almost all the time in the wild). And of course the physical consequences for Katenka as well… this is certainly not sustainable
 
PantheraLeoMelanochaita said:
I know everyone here is excited about orcas being born, but I’d advise us all to think critically before celebrating any animal being born into Chimelong’s care. Despite how impressive their orca facilities and care may seem from the footage they’ve released to the public, I highly doubt that an amusement park shaped like a giant spaceship has education or conservation as its goal. I worry greatly for the future of these orcas.
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I don´t know what is the general feeling about the new orca calves there, but don´t makes me excited at all. Makes me sad, because those orcas should have born in the wild. And despite how much praises the facility receives from captive orca fans, I don´t see nothing special on that. Yes, it have a wave machine. But is indoors, don´t looks much bigger than the old SW tanks, and personally, I think is already overcrowded. Not to mention the apparent lack of educative purpose (the conservation is zero considering the origin of their animals).
 
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Chimelong’s orca complex makes me think about Seaworld’s scrapped blue world project, with the larger size and wave machines (I believe the blue world project was planned to have similar current machines that almost acted like a treadmill). Makes me sad that it never came to fruition as it most likely would’ve had even more opportunities for enrichment than Chimelong (it’s concerning that Chimelong appears to not use EEDs). Perhaps the blue world project would’ve experimented even more with dynamic habitats (I know San Diego and Orlando experimented with fish in the orca pools; no idea if they still do). It would be nice to see Chimelong try something similar.
 
I've wondered about Chimelong's Blue World connection before.

Considering how much SeaWorld helped Chimelong set up their orca care (vet advice, employing ex SW and Loro Parque trainers, Chimelong trainers wearing SW 'spare air' systems on their wetsuits, etc..) Part of me wonders if Chimelong purchased SW's Blue World blueprints/plans, as Chimelong's Spaceship is strikingly similar to the Blue World concept (large viewing window, wave machine, beach theme...). The only thing missing is the underwater rock work.



I also wonder if Chimelong did any genetic tests. I remember SeaWorld said on Twitter years ago that they had done genetic tests on their Icelandic whales to see if they were related (they said they weren't). Since several of Chimelong's whales were caught together and they are from a small population, I wonder if they had tests done to see if their whales were related before they started breeding.

BlobfishBoy said:
(I know San Diego and Orlando experimented with fish in the orca pools; no idea if they still do)
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As far as I know they still do. I remember someone saying they put octopus in too, apparently.
 
With the shortened birth gaps, it’s happened before many times in captivity and has unfortunately resulted in the older calf being worse off and effectively ‘edged away’ by the mother. I do wonder if this is why Katenka is sometimes kept with Yilong and separated from Katniss, to ensure they have bonding time too.

Re. The complex size, it isn’t much bigger than Seaworld’s complexes. From the looks of it they have three decent sized back pools (with maybe one or two smaller pools) and that’s it. For a total of twelve orcas now - they’re nearing overcrowding if they aren’t already. I think that would explain why the three (potentially four) other orcas remain at the holding facility. At this point it seems they’re breeding too many orcas for what they (and the entire global population) can hold, unless new facilities come on board.
 
Updates from Chimelong Spaceship and Holding Facility
Katenka's third calf is a male and has been named Wulong. He was conceived naturally hence no AI procedures have been performed on Katenka between the birth of Katniss to now. I have heard that Katenka's pregnancy was an accident and that Chimelong was going to wait one more year (still too soon in my opinion) to have the calf but instead Wulong birth was quite the surprise.

Loki has been moved from the Chimelong Orca Holding Facility to the Chimelong Spaceship sometime over the last month and so currently just Nukka, Jade, and the Unknown calf remain at the off-site facility.
Video of Loki at Chimelong Spaceship (Katenka is the whale seen with him): https://www.iesdouyin.com/share/vid...3&from_aid=6383&from_ssr=1&from=web_code_link


Updates from Kamogawa Sea World
Lovey’s pregnancy has progressed well and her baby bump is definitely starting to show. Her calf should be due sometime over the next month.
Video of Lovey's physical signs of pregnancy: 鴨川シーワールド Kamogawa Sea World on Instagram: "メリークリスマス！家族と過ごす人、恋人と過ごす人、お仕事の人！それぞれが幸せな一日になりますように！ 本日はシャチに協力してもらった動画版クリスマスカードをお届けします。ステキな一日をお過ごしください！ https://www.kamogawa-seaworld.jp/"
 
Jonathan Petersson said:
Updates from Chimelong Spaceship and Holding Facility
Katenka's third calf is a male and has been named Wulong. He was conceived naturally hence no AI procedures have been performed on Katenka between the birth of Katniss to now. I have heard that Katenka's pregnancy was an accident and that Chimelong was going to wait one more year (still too soon in my opinion) to have the calf but instead Wulong birth was quite the surprise.

Loki has been moved from the Chimelong Orca Holding Facility to the Chimelong Spaceship sometime over the last month and so currently just Nukka, Jade, and the Unknown calf remain at the off-site facility.
Video of Loki at Chimelong Spaceship (Katenka is the whale seen with him): https://www.iesdouyin.com/share/vid...3&from_aid=6383&from_ssr=1&from=web_code_link


Updates from Kamogawa Sea World
Lovey’s pregnancy has progressed well and her baby bump is definitely starting to show. Her calf should be due sometime over the next month.
Video of Lovey's physical signs of pregnancy: 鴨川シーワールド Kamogawa Sea World on Instagram: "メリークリスマス！家族と過ごす人、恋人と過ごす人、お仕事の人！それぞれが幸せな一日になりますように！ 本日はシャチに協力してもらった動画版クリスマスカードをお届けします。ステキな一日をお過ごしください！ https://www.kamogawa-seaworld.jp/"
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It would make sense if Katenka’s pregnancy was a surprise as the trainer did state she wasn’t around three or so months ago - but you would think that a weight increase would be physically noticeable.

Wulong is a very similar name to Yilong. I wonder if there was a connection made there with them being brothers or if it was more of a coincidence.

Also interesting to hear Loki’s been moved to Chimelong. He’s still a fairly young male, so I imagine he’s reached the age where introducing him to other orcas is probably crucial. Considering he was hand raised, I wonder whether the same is occurring with the other calf born at the holding facility (assuming it’s the same mother). That could potentially explain why Loki was transferred to Chimelong recently if the calf was a recent birth.
 
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