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Sea World IPO Successful


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"Getting the orcas out -- including Corky, who has been enslaved by SeaWorld for 44 years."

Because after 44 years in captivity, I'm sure he would last a long time in the wild.

Corky is a she :) Besides being in the care of man for 44 years, she is also pretty much blind in one eye and no teeth (the aquarium she was at before going to SW removed her teeth). Even with the technology now nothing has been made where any surgical work can safely be done for these guys. :/ Corky is about 47 years old, Lolita was captured only a year later but believed to be even older than Corky, (because she was larger) so that's a possible 50 year old gal right there at Miami Seaquarium. I wanna buy some SW stock just so I can argue with Peta. lol...

We truly don't know what a life expectancy of an orca is in the wild. There are some certain individuals that's believed to be over 60 years old, but most seem to disappear between the ages 25 to 35 and are just never seen again. Very rarely bodies wash ashore when it comes to the massive ocean which makes it hard to tell, so several months to a year goes by before they declare that an individual is presumed dead. Transient orcas are especially hard to keep track of because they are generally loners and don't travel with large groups (unlike the Resident orca populations), travel farther distances, which allows them to disappear for years at a time before a next confirmed sighting happens.

Before captivity us humans were still killing the killer whales because they were going after fish we were catching, as a result they were heavily regarded as nuisances by fishermen. We know a lot about these guys thanks to captivity but still so much to learn obviously.

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You are welcome! Marine mammals have always fascinated since I was kid happily visiting CP's dolphins and SWO as well.

On the topic of ages of current captive orcas, Tillikum and Ulises (the mature bull at SeaWorld San Diego) are believed to be about in their thirties now, so they should be interesting to observe in the coming years as they are in that age bracket where quite a few of the bull males often go missing in the wild. Tillikum has been refusing to perform as of late, but that seems more of a spoiled brat personality on his part than old age as he decided to do a show as recently as two days ago.

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