Orcas can be long-lived: Estimates range upwards to 80-100 years! There
are whales known to be over 70 years old living in the wild.

Maureen E Ellis
Univ of WA
Seattle, WA 98195
me2 at u.washington.edu
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On Thu, 5 Oct 1995, M. Smith wrote:

>
> I heard on NPR this morning that certain persons (including Mike Lowry)
> are trying to secure Lolita, an orca at SeaQuest, a commercial park in
> Florida. This whale has been captive since 1970, when it was trendy for
> parks to catch Puget Sound orcas. According to NPR, she's the last
> survivor of this bunch. Apparently many people want to buy her back and
> release into Puget Sound. Now, I sympathize with the idea of keeping
> orcas wild, but doesn't this seem like a bad idea? Is it likely that
> over the course of 25 years she's retained the hunting knowledge and
> competitive edge that allows wild whales to stay fit? Seems to me she'd
> be thrown in with a bunch of far superior peers, who would out-swim,
> out-fish, out-compete her in every possible way (excepting of course
> their ability to jump through hoops or throw balls). And would she be
> accepted by a pod? I see this as a big PR stunt, with little concern for
> the whale's well-being. I think she'd just die unless attended to by people.
>
> Of course, I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time). If she were
> reintroduced and quickly bonded with a pod (ideally made up of 'kin') and
> fed and acted in a natural way, that would be a fascinating insight into
> how well whales can 'remember'. But this seems unlikely. And NPR said
> she was 30 years old, anybody out there know the average longevity of
> wild orcas?
>
> Any opinions on this tweets?
>
> -------------
> Michael R. Smith
> Univ. of Washington, Seattle
> whimbrel at u.washington.edu
> http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html
>
>
>