Killer Whales Research

With research and studies being conducted on both wild and captive Killer Whales, data and information has been generated that adds question to the health issues associated with captivity. “The killer whale (Orcinus orca) has proven to be among the most difficult of all species to hold adequately in zoological facilities. The killer whale is a particularly large-brained and long-lived species who evidences a high degree of social complexity in the wild.” (Noonan) Their behavior and relationships with other whales within the family, known as a pod, creates an immense bond between the animals. Whales that were documented inhabiting the Pacific Northwest, remain in their natal group for most, if not all, of their life. (Robeck) When in captivity,
This Killer Whale, Keiko, was born in the wild and captured around the age of two. He was then sold and transferred from Iceland to an amusement park in Mexico, where he lived in a single pool without contact with any other Orcas from 1985 to 1996. The amusement park had a few bottle nosed dolphins in the same program, but for the most part Keiko was alone. Later, Keiko was conditioned to follow a boat and was taken out regularly to do open ocean swims as a part of a research study. During these swims, Keiko was in proximity of other local Killer Whales and eventually his human interaction was limited over the course of a few months. Initially, Keiko’s interaction with the wild Orcas was partial. He and the pod generally moved away from one another. After a few open ocean swims and being taken directly toward the pod, Keiko began to follow the pod within a local vicinity. The pod seemed to tolerate his presence and thus Keiko began to travel with the group. However, after Keiko’s release back into the wild, researchers studied how often Keiko approached the boat. The group reported that he approached the boat roughly sixteen times, this was with minimal interaction on the researchers’ part. (Simon) Moreover, after captivity and immense amounts of human captivity and no social interaction with other Killer Whales for a period of eleven years, releasing Keiko into the wild showed extreme behavioral differences from other wild Orcas in the area. Since the social construct of a pod of Kill Whales is extremely strong, often times outsider whales are left to swim at a certain distance from the pod. Observations were made of Keiko swimming in the vicinity of the group, but there were no observations or research made that showed Keiko apart of the social