Orca Encounter 🐳 (full Show) - Sea World - Orlando FL🇺🇸

Whale families showing off their incredible size, speed, power, and complex learning abilities. These behaviors keep our whales active and engaged. SeaWorld's killer whales have inspired generations all over the world and we're excited to share their story with you today. Killer whales are the ocean's top predator. They use cooperation and communication, not just size and strength, to take their place at the top of the ocean's food web. At the bottom are small animals like krill. At the top, the apex predator, the killer whale. Killer whales are as big as a bus, faster than an Olympic swimmer, high-climbed, and powerful. We're going to see all of that and more. These behaviors contribute to an environment that is full of enrichment. We spend days, weeks, months, years building relationships with our whales. This creates trust and that allows us to do some amazing things. For example, when you visit the balcony, you present your arm to draw blood or step on the scale to see how much you weigh. It's much the same with our whales. Today, you'll see the whales moving together in unison. These synchronized behaviors strengthen social bonds and enable the whales to problem-solve as a group. It makes them the ocean's top predator. Right now, our youngest whale, he's just 14 years old, and our oldest whale is Makaio's mother, Katina, who is also the matriarch or leader of our pod. These animal training techniques create a language between us and the whales. It's a language of learning through positive reinforcement, and we teach them a wide variety of behaviors. One of the very first things we train is actually a husbandry behavior we're seeing right here in our slide-out area. This is the position we ask our whales for a voluntary blood sample. As you can see on the white undersides of those tail flutes, we have really great access to blood vessels that our veterinarians will come in and take a blood sample from at least once a month. Now, blood samples are just one important diagnostic that we do. Another one is weighing our whales. In order to weigh them, we ask them to slide their bodies up and out of the water onto a giant killer whale-sized scale. When we see Malia right here, you're going to notice the portion of her body from her dorsal fin all the way down to her tail flutes is still in the water, and with that part of her body still in the water, if she were on a scale, we would not be getting an accurate weight on her. So, we can solve that problem by asking Malia to raise her tail up and out of the water. Posture enables us to exert accuracy, so we know that our young whales are maintaining. And the care isn't just physical. Mental stimulation and play are vital, and we surprise and envy our whales at every opportunity. Play is how killer whales teach their young to hunt, and for the adults, play is important too. It seems that they just enjoy having fun. Making time for playing is important for killer whales and for us. So, we just learned that killer whales love to play, and they actually learn a lot by playing, and through mimicry and observational learning. So, we're going to put that to the test today with everybody over here on the left side of the stadium and our killer whale family. So, all right, left side, everybody on your feet, we're all going to play a game of killer whale poll of the leader. You guys are going to be the leaders, and Katina is watching all of you. So, on the count of three, keep your hands by your side and spin in a circle two times. Ready? One, two, three, spin! She's watching, and she's got it. Well done, everybody. You can go ahead and take a seat. As you can see, Katina was paying very close attention to you all. Killer whales are very curious animals and will often spy hop or jump completely out of the water in order to get a better look at their environment. So, when we see Malia over at center stage, let's give her a great big cheer. Guys, right into the stadium, it's your turn. Everybody on your feet, we'll have a breach. The hands in this, you guys left shoulder. Ready? And the lock is off. Now, killer whales will breach for a variety of reasons. It might be to scratch an itch on your body, to stun their prey, or to let other whales know that they have arrived. So, here comes the Lonnie. As you all can see, killer whales are amazing athletes, and they can even eat several hundred pounds of food every single day. Out in the ocean, killer whale diets depend on where they live and based on the time of year. Unfortunately, things like overfishing, pollution, and other factors are having serious impacts on some killer whale populations. Killer whales are impressive animals, and it's pretty obvious why they're the top predator in the ocean. That means killer whales are invincible, right? Killer whales depend on a plentiful food source and a clean environment. They're completely dominant, yet completely dependent. When it comes down to it, killer whales are not the most powerful animal in the ocean. It's on you. We all know. We hold the future of killer whales in contention, but still honor them. One choice can change. Together, we've got this.