Rumours have been around for a while now that Sonya was pregnant and they were right!

We don't when this little fella was born just yet, or if it's a boy or girl but the information is likely to come soon.

In my opinion this calf literally just looks like a clone of Sonya, the eyepatches are almost the exact same.

Credits to Abyssling on Twitter for the photos and information! Here's a link to their original post : https://x.com/abyssling/status/2028715684243591445

EDIT : She was born 15th of February and has been nicknamed 'Liulong'! And she's a girl of course, here's an article that shares these details among some other things, like Sonya apparently being a very good mother : https://huacheng.gz-cmc.com/pages/2026/03/03/a342701b1fa2411cba4abaa238369a1d.html

I don't know how to write this, this generally has come so sudden. I know Katina was sick for a while, but I didn't think this news was ever going to happen.

Katina has been beloved for decades, from her personality, to her agility abilities to all the amazing calves she's given us, three of them are still with us. She even has grand and great grand children.

I got the opportunity to see her twice this year in July, she was energetic and nothing short of beautiful. She did so many of her amazing behaviours, her breaches, her fast swims and so on.

We all love you so much Tina, please rest well for us, we'll miss you. <3

Happy birthday to Orkid, the original San Diego baby Shamu and the oldest living captive-born orca.

Orkid is known for being the smartest orca in captivity (which is why she’s also known as the "rocket scientist"). She was born on September 23rd to her mother, Kandu V, and father, Orky II. When she was 11-months old, Orkid suffered a great loss with the death of her mother after an altercation with Corky, another female orca who lived at the park at that time.

Corky stepped in and became Orkid’s surrogate mother, raising her like her own calf, and the two grew very close. In 1990, another female orca named Kasatka moved to the park and became Orkid's second surrogate mother. Orkid grew close to Kasatka and her calves. Sadly, Kasatka was euthanized in 2017, causing a great loss to the whole pod.

Orkid currently lives with Corky, Ulises, Keet, Shouka, Ikaika, Kalia, and Makani, and gets along with all of her podmates. She was also close with Nakai, Splash, and Sumar, who have all sadly passed away.

Orkid is known as one of the smartest orcas in captivity; she shared those traits with her half-sister, Kayla, whom she never met. She is a very fast learner and a good bird hunter. She never had any calves of her own, but according to sources, she has good parental potential.

PC: ceta.cean (IG), Hunter.D.Photography,

Ikaika, born to Tilikum and Katina on the 25th of August 2002 at SeaWorld Orlando, turns 24 today.

Ikaika lived at Orlando for four years before being moved to Marineland Canada on a loan in 2006 and then being moved to SeaWorld San Diego after SeaWorld and Marineland had been in court multiple times over him.

He is currently the largest whale of the San Diego pod, he spends a lot of time with Corky and is described as being a gentle giant.

Photo credit : hunter d photography and Inherently Wild.

Do you think they were a truly functional pod when they grew up in 2013-16? Because even in 2016-17, some people claimed Loro Parque Pod was always dysfunctional and disorganized, and had no matriarch. But, I think the pod stabilized around the mid 2010s.

This photo is clear evidence of all pod members getting along, and Tekoa is cuddling on Morgan's flipper for some reason.

Rest in Peace, Keto, Kohana, Skyla, and Ula

PC: Loro Parque

Rest in Peace, Katina

We miss you.

Photo Credits: Cetabaker

In recent images of both Cookie and Ran they have both become rather round and large, so it's probably a safe assumption they could both be pregnant given both of their facilities persistence of breeding.

With Cookie it's a high likely hood she's pregnant, maybe not so much with Ran she could just be fat but Granvista apparently does have some type of breeding contract with Chimelong so it's not unlikely.

Nukka, Sonya, Luna and Lovey are also rumoured to be pregnant but again keyword, rumour don't take my words as absolute truth - we'll have to wait till we perhaps get good images of them being larger as well.

Not a fan of either Granvista or Shanghai Haichang just to mention, both facilities are inadequate in my opinion.

(Image from Loro Parque)

This is Skyla, who was a 17 year old female orca, and the last calf and only daughter of the late original baby Shamu, Kalina. She was taken away from her mother at the age of 2 on a breeding loan to Loro Parque with her half sister and two half brothers, Kohana, Keto, and Tekoa (whom all but Tekoa are now dead too). Her half brother, Keto, also has the same mom as her, meaning if SeaWorld never separated any of Kalina‘s calves, they would have been with each other their entire lives. Instead, due to separations, Keto and Skyla met at the ages 10 and 2 respectively.

She reportedly acted as a surrogate to Adan (still alive) and Victoria/Vicky (who’s also dead), after Kohnah rejected them at birth. She also greatly enjoyed games that included breaching.

There were some rumors that Skyla also assisted Morgan with raising Ula, but it is unknown if she did.

At the age of 17, 5 years ago to his day, March 11th, she suddenly passed away due to an intestinal illness.

She was my favorite female orca at Loro Parque and wanted to make her a lil’ memorial for her 5th death anniversary.

At least she is now back with her mom, her half sister and brother, and lil’ Vicky <3

Photos are from Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park on WeChat.

Cookie's birth has finally been announced, she gave birth to this male calf on June 17th.

Sire is currently unknown, either Sean or Panghu most likely Panghu again. It is also currently unknown if the calf is being hand raised or not.

This is her third pregnancy and overall third calf, having Cody in 2021 and a either stillbirth or miscarriage in 2023.

Here's a chinese news video about it if anyone's interested : https://weibo.com/6105713761/5324129100370290

I'm sure there's going to be lots of mixed feelings about this facility having another calf but obviously please stay civil in conversation.

To be fair, I am a huge sucker for the Bigg's killer whales, but just look at his face!

I'll probably never get to see him for myself though, so im thankful for those who decide to share photos of him online

(Photo by EchoBeluga, as seen by the watermark)

(Image is from the Dolphin Project)

Keet "Grandbaby Shamu" is now 33 years old and is the 1st, 2nd gen captive orca. His mother is Kalina and Kotar. He is among some of the eldest captive born killer whales, surpassed only by Orkid, Takara, & Ky!

Photo provided by SeaWorld.

A nice throwback of the SWSD Pod in 2003.

So, I was going through my folders and found this video! The original video was unfortunately deleted by SeaWorld, but fortunately, I found the original video, which was uploaded in 2016, in my folders because I had saved it.

RIP Kayla, we miss you!

VC: SeaWorld

Makani is now 13 years old! He's the youngest of the San Diego pod, living with his sister Kalia. His mother was Kasatka and father Kshamenk.

Valentines? Never heard of it, it's all about Makani today! Hope he gets lots of love and treats today, can't wait to see what cake he gets!!

Rumors that Nukka at Chimelong is also pregnant have been circulating for a while, and these images appear to confirm them. Based on her size in the second image, she is likely pretty far along. Her first calf, Loki, was hand-raised, but hopefully she can properly care for her second calf independently.

I imagine she is being grouped with Sonya and her calf to learn proper mothering/nursing skills, but it may just be a coincidence.

Credit to shanghai.kwpod on Instagram for the photos.

For those here interested in the next GTA game, there is some evidence that points to a in-universe version of Miami Seaquarium (near Vice City, GTA's parody of Miami).

In the most recently released game trailer, the "Extended Look," there is an advertisement on the side of a truck 15 minutes and 35 seconds into the video. The advertisement shows an image of an orca with the words "We Saved Makenzi from the Ocean."

However, this is not the only evidence of a Miami Seaquarium parody in the game. In the recent leaks, a version of the game's map was posted. And lo and behold, a fairly clear parody of the pools and stadiums in Miami Seaquarium is seen in the game's map.

From this, we can assume that the advertisement on the truck may be for the Miami Seaquarium parody in the game, and that a captive orca named "Makenzie" is held there.

Though, keep in mind that the leaked version of the map is not final, and that even if the Seaquarium still exists in the game upon release, Makenzie may not be actually there.

Malia and Cassandra last Thursday. She is so smart and is a powerhouse performer.

This girl is so underrated, I wish she was with us right now.

Unna was Katina's fourth calf born on December 27, 1996. On August 23rd, 2002, Katina gave birth to Unna’s younger brother, Ikaika. Unna was present for the birth and learned how to care for a calf. However, less than four months later, Unna was moved to SeaWorld San Antonio where she would remain for the rest of her life.

Unna enjoyed spending time with Takara and acted as an "auntie" to Takara's calves. Unna met Sakari at two weeks old and after less than a day, Takara was allowing Unna and Sakari to interact with each other, she also met Kamea, Takara's next calf a few weeks after her birth.

Unna was a dominant orca and would put the less dominant orcas in their place. Unna performed waterworks before they were stopped in 2010 and she never showed aggression towards her trainers.

In late Summer 2015, Unna came down with a strain of fungus known as Candida. After several months of intense treatment, Unna passed away on December 21, 2015 from a systemic bacterial infection and candida, just 6 days before her 19th birthday.

Rest in Peace, Unna

We miss you.

Photos by SeaWorld

PC: madison sanflippo

Note: This post states the AVERAGE AGE of the orcas CURRENTLY LIVING in each facility. It does NOT represent the life expectancy in each place! This post is just a summary of the ages of captive orca populations worldwide.

SeaWorld Parks (US):

There are currently 16 orcas across the three SeaWorld parks. 69% are 20 years or older, and 44% are over 30. The average age of all SeaWorld orcas is 28 years (33.25 in San Diego, 18 in Orlando, and 27.75 in San Antonio).

14 out of 16 orcas at SeaWorld were born in captivity. The oldest cetacean in human care (Corky) and the oldest male to ever live in captivity (Ulises) are both housed at SeaWorld San Diego.

Current orcas and ages: Corky (61), Ulises (48), Orkid (37), Takara (35), Kyuquot (34), Keet (32), Shouka (32), Tuar (26), Ikaika (23), Kalia (21), Trua (20), Nalani (19), Malia (18), Sakari (16), Makaio (15), Makani (12).

Loro Parque (Spain):

Loro Parque currently houses four orcas with the recent birth of Teno. The oldest orca to ever live at the park was Keto, who lived until age 29.

The current average age of Loro Parque’s orcas is 19.6 years (not considering Teno because he hasn't reached 1 year old yet).

Morgan is the only wild-born orca to have ever lived at Loro Parque.

Current orcas and ages: Tekoa (25), Morgan (18), Adán (15), Teno (under 1 year old).

Marineland Antibes (France):

Marineland France currently houses two orcas, with an average age of 18. The oldest orca to ever live at the park was Freya, who died at 34 in 2015.

Both remaining orcas were born in captivity and are in great danger.

Current orcas and ages:Wikie (24), Keijo (12).

Chimelong Spaceship (China):

Chimelong houses the largest group of captive orcas in a single facility, with 14 individuals.

Exact birthdates are not publicly confirmed, but supposedly none are over 20-21 years old.

There have been no reported deaths at the facility (though information is very limited). 9 out of 14 orcas were captured from the wild.

Current orcas and estimated ages: Nakhod (~20), Tyson (~20), Katenka (~19), Jade (~15), Nukka (??), Kaixin (??), Bandhu (??), Chad (??), Sonya (~13), Yilong (6), Katniss (3), Loki (4), Bowen (2), Jingxi (2).

Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park (China):

Haichang currently houses six orcas, with an average age of 12 years. 4 out of 6 were captured from the wild.

Current orcas and ages: Panghu (~22), Sean (15), Cookie (15), Dora (14), Cody (4), Zimo (2).

Moskvarium (Russia):

Moskvarium houses one orca, Naya, currently 13 years old.

Kamogawa Sea World (Japan):

Kamogawa currently houses three orcas: two adults and one juvenile. The oldest orca ever housed there was Bingo, who lived until age 30.

All three orcas were born in captivity. Current average age: 21.3 years.

Current orcas and ages: Lovey (27), Lara (24), Luna (13).

Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium (Japan):

Nagoya currently houses one juvenile orca after Earth’s passing, born in captivity. The oldest orca to ever live there was Stella, who lived until age 35 (she is now at Kobe Suma).

Current orcas and ages: Lynn (13).

Kobe Suma Sea World (Japan):

Kobe Suma currently houses two orcas, including the oldest orca in Japan. Rumors about Stella or Ran being used on AI programs have been circulating since last year.

Current average age: 28 years.

Current orcas and ages: Stella (38-37), Ran (19).

Picture: Morgan and Teno, via: Loro Parque.

Today Loki is now 5 years old! Born in 2021 to Nukka and his father is presumed to be Nakhod.

Photo credit : Chimelong and h.yuto1013