It's being called "a whale of a problem," and not just by me. According to research published in the Journal of Heredity, endangered Southern Resident orcas are mating within their family groups. This "genetic bottleneck" means the whales could be more susceptible to diseases, early mortality or failure to produce calves.
The study's lead author is Michael J. Ford, a scientist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
I'm in San Diego with the fam. I brought the laptop and found an internet connection floating around the hoversphere somewhere. Today we took Blondie to Sea World and tomorrow brings promises of more captive, well-trained wild animals at the famous San Diego Zoo. The weather has been perfect, sunny and 70s. Love those S's when it comes to atmosphere reporting.
Shamu.
Everyone knows who it is. The killer whale at Sea World who spins on its back like a breakdancer in Brooklyn and poses like the letter O's bottom half for photos. It is the most popular attraction at Sea World and draws a stadium full of Shamu-heads so you're kind of obligated to see it if you're there. Right?
The show opens with a deep, authoritative voice accompanying a film. That's right, I said a film. Not just a few images but a short film, which plays intermittently throughout the show. The film tells the story of a boy, wearing a necklace with a whale tale pendant and rowing in a canoe on the ocean, who happens to see a killer whale rocket into the sky and fall back into the water. This experience makes the boy dream of one day swimming with whales. Cheesy? Yes, extra, extra cheesy. If the film were a pizza, you couldn't tear a piece from the rest of the pie without creating a stringy mess.
So one of the male trainers comes out wearing the same whale tale pendant necklace and on the big screen is a picture of the boy in the canoe and the trainer, side by side, both wearing these triple cheesy whale tale necklaces. The boy from the film is supposed to be the trainer. But let's be honest here, boys and girls. It's not.
The message: BELIEVE and your dreams can come true. If you dream of one day swimming with killer whales and riding their noses across a vast pool in front of thousands of people, it could come true.
Blah! I just puked.
Every show/story needs a hook and the film isn't making the cut. So how bout this? Send a 10,000 pound orca out there and have it jump fifty feet in the air and splash five hundred people when it lands. That's the best way to get everyone's attention, especially the youngsters. Then have the whales do more tricks and splash more people and tell me a little about each one of these amazing creatures. Hey, Sea World, it ain't about the trainers. It's about the big black and white things called killer whales. You know, the reason you're in business in the first place.
Cut the cheese piece film with the boy and the necklace and give me more cow bell, I mean killer whale!
Did my daughter enjoy the show? She did. But during the three or four film parts, she said, "Where da whale go?"
What? There's a Shamu at that Sea World too? We had lunch with Shamu at Sea World in Florida this year. (Lunch next to the pool) Will the real Shamu please stand up?! :)
Fun times for Blondie- Sea World and the zoo!!
Wow. Just wow. Did you boo? Throw things? Whistle like they do at European soccer games? Tell your daughter that the movie was the lamest thing ever and that if she grew up to be in a position to make such decisions that you would pretend not to know her if she created something similar? I hope you did.
I hope you did.
Shamu is everywhere. There has to be a third one somewhere in the world. Probably in China. Everything's in China, except blogs and basic freedoms. :-)