![]() ![]() ![]() Keiko was born in the waters of Iceland in 1977 or 1978. (Female dorsal fins are much smaller and usually do not droop in captivity.) There is no known instance of a collapsed drooping dorsal fin ever straightening. In the wild, male orcas regularly dive deep, and swim hundreds of miles, activities which are thought to strengthen their nearly 6 foot long dorsal fins as they grow and develop.ĭrooping dorsal fins are rare in wild male orcas, yet happens with almost all male orcas in captivity. Most scientists believe that this dorsal fin collapse in captivity is due to unidirectional swimming in small shallow circles. Keiko’s dorsal fin drooped over instead of standing straight up. By the time he was returned to his home waters in Iceland, he had achieved his full length of about 24 feet and weighed approximately 11,500 pounds! When Keiko was rescued, he was severely underweight at only 7,720 pounds. Keiko lived for more than 5 years in his bay sea sanctuary, as well as out in the Atlantic waters, sometimes in the company of wild whales, and finally in a protected cove in Norway. Keiko’s odyssey from a tiny tank in Mexico all the way to swimming in his home waters took several years. The real life effort to bring Keiko back to his home waters was much more complicated than shown in the movie! Keiko had to be nurtured to regain his health and also exercised to get used to swimming in the ocean again and catching his own food. No, that leap over the wall in the movie Free Willy was done with special effects, and not with Keiko. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |