SeaWorld San Diego is ringing in the new year with a new addition to its family—a female baby killer whale born Dec. 2 at the theme park. Kalia, a 10-year-old killer whale residing at SeaWorld San Diego gave birth to the healthy calf.
The baby weighed around 350 pounds at birth. SeaWorld has confirmed its killer whale Ulises is the father.
“It was a joyous occasion,” communications director David Koontz said. “The more research that can be done on [the birth of] killer whales and other animals here in our park, the more information that the researchers in the field can use in their monitoring and studying of those wild populations; if they can use that information to help with management of those wild populations and to give them a better chance to continue to reproduce, all the better.
Kalia went into labor and a SeaWorld trainer noticed the calf’s tail flukes coming into sight. Just over two hours later, the calf was born. Kalia’s mother, Kasatka, was in the pool for the birth as well as Kalia’s two brothers Nakai and Makani. SeaWorld San Diego released a video detailing the birth.
When a killer whale is born, it needs to take its first breath at the surface in order to survive. Immediately upon being born, the calf’s grandmother, Kasatka, dove down to help the baby surface to take its first breath.
“Kasatka is a very experienced mom as she’s had four babies herself, so she knew what to do when the calf was born [to her daughter Kalia],” said Kristi Burtis, supervisor of Animal Training at SeaWorld San Diego.
The calf subsequently spent 10 hours with grandma Kasatka, according to Burtis, but eventually began bonding with its mother, Kalia. The first-time mom and her calf are doing well, according to Burtis. Kasatka, meanwhile, continued her grandmotherly duties. Burtis said she saw Kasatka go to the bottom of the pool to nurse her 22-month-old son Makani, Kalia’s brother, right in front of Kalia and her newborn, in what looked like served as a teaching session for Kalia.
“I think Kasatka was like, ‘Hey, this is what you need to do, this is how you need to feed your baby,’ so it was just really cool to watch the dynamics of the family,” Burtis said.
The calf’s birth comes amidst controversy for SeaWorld. The theme park has come under fire since the release of the documentary “Blackfish.” Many argued in the film that SeaWorld creates an unsafe environment for its animals, forcing them to do tricks and disrupting their natural behaviors.
“We wait until the mom is comfortable with us interacting with the baby,” Burtis said. “Right now, it’s all about the mom and baby and letting them bond—it’s not about training them, but it’s about [Kalia] being comfortable and about the calf being healthy.”
In September, a SeaWorld visitor captured a video of Kalia “stuck in a gate” while Kalia was pregnant with her calf, which set off a firestorm with animal rights activists. At 2:02 in the video, the killer whale swims up to the gate and wedges between it.
SeaWorld released a video to clarify that Kalia was merely playing with the gate, not stuck in the gate.
“One of the things she finds amusing is playing with the gates—it’s something she finds interesting,” Burtis said. “They’re very powerful animals; the gates open and close but the animals are able to stop the gates if they want.”
Burtis added that the trainers don’t want Kalia playing with the gate, but it didn’t do any harm to her and the baby calf. Burtis said Kalia’s 17-month gestation went absolutely normal.
SeaWorld veterinarians give monthly health examinations to its killer whales, and Kalia received nothing but the utmost care during her pregnancy, according to SeaWorld veterinarian Hendrik Nollens.
“From the day of conception, every two weeks she received an ultrasound to make sure the baby was alive and growing and we took blood samples to make sure the whole pregnancy progressed normally, and it completely did,” Nollens said, adding that seeing the calf take its first breath was tremendously gratifying and heartwarming.
“It’s an enriching experience for any animal to have a child,” Nollens said. And at a time when wild killer whale populations are dwindling, like the Southern Residents group in the waters around Washington State and British Colombia, the first breath of a calf yields a sea of hope.