Sea World Orlando Welcome’s A New Member To Their Family

 

A Beautiful New Addition to the Sea World Family

A Beautiful New Addition to the Sea World Family

 

One of the Orlando Theme parks just got a little bigger. Just days after her first-born passed away following a short illness, Katina, a 34-year-old killer whale, gave birth to her seventh calf at Sea World Orlando.

It was announced throughout the park that the 5:30 p.m. Shamu show, Believe, had to be canceled. A sign was posted listing the reason, there was a baby on the way.

Katina gave birth to the 7-foot-long, 350-pound calf in Shamu Stadium’s main pool at 7:28 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, following 45-minutes of labor. Moments later, the baby whale instinctively swam to the surface for its first breath.

Mother Katina is an 18-foot-long, 5,400-pound killer whale. The father is Tilikum. The sex of the new calf can’t yet be determined.

“It’s a terrific day for all of us at Sea World,” said Kelly Flaherty-Clark, curator of animal training. “Katina is an experienced mom and she appears to be bonding quickly with her baby.”

Sea World Orlando veterinarians and trainers remain cautiously optimistic about the progress of the baby and her mother, and are encouraged by the bonding they’ve already seen.

This calf is the 27th killer whale born in SeaWorld parks (Orlando, San Diego, Calif., San Antonio, Texas). Sixteen whales have been born at SeaWorld Orlando.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *