I'm very excited to share a different presentation of Orca Encounter done with no male killer whales and no gating. This was also the first (but not the last!) time I saw these particular whales do spyhops and TNTs together! The whales also got enrichment after the show at 23:58 because they did so great!
Today, Kyuquot and Tuar had the day off of shows so Takara and her daughters Sakari and Kamea did all three shows together. Most of the time, between show segments the whales are asked to go to a back pool but in this show they all stayed out front and were in session the entire time except a short break between Play and the Hunt. See below for more highlights!
0:38 Intro/One Song starting with Takara's ventral fast swim and Sakari's back breach at 1:00
-1:38 Takara does 2 side breaches with moose vocals and Sakari's center ventral bow
- 3:35 All 3 whales do a center alien
5:12 Husbandry Demo/Play starting with all 3 spyhopping! (thumbnail)
- 5:45 Asking Kamea and Sakari to play in the sprayers
- 6:40 Kamea and Sakari fluke presents, demonstrating the blood draw layout
- 7:40 Takara's slideout to demonstrate how whales are weighed
- 10:00 Sakari's center bow with her volunteer, sorry she went higher than I thought!
- 12:38 Even though the whales were out of session Takara and eventually Sakari and Kamea came by their trainers and waited for them to start back up
13:20 Splash/The Hunt starting with all 3 fluke flings in front of me
- 16:40 All 3 whales TNT together, the first time I've seen this group behavior from them!
19:08 Finale starting with Kamea and Sakari's zippers
- 21:35 Sakari's center side breach
- 22:22 Sakari's front flip, LRS, and slideout!
23:38 Bonus clip of fire hose enrichment they were given after the show
Takara, Sakari, and Kamea (Killer Whales) at SeaWorld Orlando on May 21, 2023.
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