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Some of my footage of Kalia, baby calf, Makani (almost 2 years old), and Kasatka. I took an absurd amount of video that day since I was able to go to a special private baby presentation for those that work there and friends, but like I have said before, I don't intend to upload many Seaworld videos for the public in this channel.
A few notes:
1)I always like when mirrors are used with animals to see what their response is. I have a few other primate videos with this. What do they think they are seeing? In the academic world, the issue of trying to determine the 1st person perspective (one's own mental state; in this case the animals mind) based on the 3rd person perspective (our observations of others and the world) is a difficult one going back to an article written 40 years ago by Thomas Nagel called "What is it like to be a bat?" I refer you to chapter 3 of Justin Gregg's Are Dolphins Really Smart? book where he goes over various interpretations of the mirror test of what could really be going on here. It does seem Makani recognizes his own body (and bubbles?), but other than that I really don't know.
2)Officially Seaworld has not announced the gender yet because they are waiting on lab tests...but it's a GIRL! lol! I refer you to the 3 minute mark of the video. You have to look closely for the little slits that boy killer whales don't have. ;) (EDIT: Dec. 18, 2014: It's official now)
3)They have the baby under 24 hour observation by the staff. They did the same with Makani when he was born. The public is roped off as you can see from the glass which is actually a really good thing when you are trying to video widescreen. Most people don't understand the idea of "safety distance" and would start jamming everyone otherwise.
4)Although there was great joy with the birth of this one, there was great sadness to hear that the wild southern resident J32 died at 18 years of age due to her not being able to expel her full term fetus that had died inside of her. It used to be by citing a 1990 study, John Ford could state that, “Neonate mortality may be high, with an estimated 43% dying within the first 6 months”. (Ford, John K.B. “Killer Whale.” Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. San Diego, Ca: Academic Press, 2008) The situation is even worse now with the southern residents due to not ANY babies surviving in recent years in that region. (Edit: May 23, 2015: to update a few babies have been born since I did this video that should be approaching the six month mark. This is good and there is some hope they will survive, but the problems still remain.) A few news articles to show what I am referring to:
www.timescoloni...
www.dailymail.c...
The deaths are attributed to pollutants and food supply. This is becoming such a big problem that if things stay as they are we could have a mass extinction event as early as the next few decades. I refer you to this site:
www.stateoftheo...
Start praying for guidance and answers on this one because I have serious doubts that, if the scientists are right on this one, we can do much about some of these issues.
I should also point out my favorite website and blog on marine animal welfare issues. John Dineley is very experienced and knowledgeable on the subject:
www.marineanima...
marineanimalwel...
The music is called "Inner Light" which was taken from Incompetech.com: tinyurl.com/oqm...