That's My Baby - Takara the Killer Whale

San Diego Sea World's Takara the killer whale is known for being a prankster we grow up now that she's about to become a mom [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign this job in 1990 I graduated from college and I was looking for a job I really didn't know what I was going to do I always liked animals they had trainer tryouts so I took a swim test and 12 years later here I am here Randy play with Mommy thank you baby I first got started working in the park with intentions of getting public speaking experience I was very surprised to see the depth of the relationship between the animals and the trainers and I think that's what really got me hooked in the beginning is just seeing that you could build a relationship with a killer whale you're gonna be a mom ready are you ready Takara is a 10 year old female she'll be 11 in July and she's expecting her very first baby killer whales are typically pregnant anywhere from 17 to 18 months and they have delivered as early as 16 months and so in the 17th month we're anticipating the birth but now we're into the 18th month so we are ready we're nervous because this is her first baby and no baby yet oh baby she is enjoying rub Downs right now which she's always been into rub downs but she's just more like rub my flipper you know she's just seeming to enjoy the tactile even more than she normally does a big old girl big old pregnant girl gotta get that thing out of you so far with behavior she hasn't changed she's still fun loving the car and still doing the same normal things she does she's not flying around quite as fast as she used to just because she's a little bit fatter takara's personality is is unique I think one because she loves to play She's always looking for a new way to do something you can hang out with Sakara poolside for hours probably and just mess around with her play a game she's a ball of laughs she's a lot of fun we just have to look at it and just laugh that's just who she is that's her personality what can you do she's just fun Takara it's probably one of my most favorite moments working with Sakara was after I had been working with her for some time and knew him very well and I'd already acquired years of experience working with marine mammals and my supervisor said okay get in my heart just raced I'm like it's a killer whale [Music] [Applause] that very first time I mean my heart rate is just now thinking about it because I was so excited killer was in the wild they do swim pods and these pods can consist of anything from three to 50 animals and while swimming in these pods when they're hunting they will work as a team it's kind of like a pack of wolves a lot of the behaviors that we do on our show are based on what animals do instinctively [Music] foreign citation that intentionally beats themselves to Prey Upon animals they are known to go after Penguins sea lion pups that are on the shore so this is just a natural behavior something I've noticed in my experience the kill whales it takes a little bit more work to get their trust you have to really earn their trust but once you get there and that bond is established there's really nothing like it it's way stronger than any other Bond you just love loving huh whoa anybody in there hello there's no baby in there [Music] you know her nickname is baby so I have to admit I've had valid concerns I'm nervous so you know how is this going is she going to mature because she just still seems like such a youngster to me even though she's reproductively old enough and she's in her prime really to have a calf I just still see so much of a baby in her [Music] she's such a young well at heart we're both hopeful that she has a nice healthy calf and hopefully she'll nourish fine and everything will just go fine [Music] foreign [Music] I have two kids at home but here is like my other my other baby huh [Music] hey hi honey oh I missed you today hi Mommy hi hi boo hmm maybe have a good day yeah it was long yeah glad mommy's home yes very very glad foreign it's like we have two families because we don't just talk about our kids we talk about the whales too every day so instead of just coming home and talking about how we're our kids it's how are the kids and how are the whales and we we talk about all the whales and how they were uh every day so it's like having two families it really is [Music] all ready for us yeah I think she's ready too she knows what's happening ready to see a fetus today I'd like to Sure doctor when's it may be coming I don't know Wendy I'd like it to be soon but I think it's all up to her let's see how little guy's doing okay [Music] there we go one can you see it yes the ultrasound's the best way to watch the pregnancy as it develops in these animals because we can actually get sort of a moving picture of the baby inside the Mom it's something that's really non-invasive to the moms and we get a great idea of how things are going with the baby that's it right there yep there's the skull do you see as it comes into the spine that is so cool it looks good things in the fluid around the baby look good good girl hang in there there's your baby hey Petey do you want to give us a hand getting this sure no problem with that and here's the probe okay sure all right what we're gonna do now is let's just get in there and we'll see what our temperature is like today we take the pregnant Wells temperature twice a day and we did this because we know that when her temperature Falls there's a fair chance that that's going to be the day that she delivers her baby hey Petey we're at 38.6 okay the temperature's the same as she's been so she's stable we'll see what it's like later on today sounds good okay foreign big misconception out there that we always have to feed the animals through everything that you do any type of behavior that they do we just reinforce it positively and then when they do something incorrect we just ignore it it's not a big deal right [Applause] something that we do with the whales once a week is we weigh them and it helps us to better monitor their health eyes five thousand forty girl [Applause] you know these animals nobody knows exactly how smart they really are it's hard to compare Marine Mammal to a land animal it was all the experience of marine mammals that I have I found that they are the most intelligent [Music] a lot of people think dolphins are the most intelligent animal out there it seems to be the popular belief these guys are so much more intelligent Dolphins it's not even close in my experience working with both animals who's the number one mom you know my mom you're the number one mom huh yeah they just love our attention they love the one-on-one and you can really tell when she's into something like the vocalizations you might have been able to hear she just gets excited going back shoot those noises that's great she's happy camper right now people ask us a lot what are they saying when they make those vocalizations and we're not able to really translate anything that they're that they're saying but you know being around them a long time we've learned to associate certain vocalizations with certain behavior and those noises are very much like a cat purring in our minds a contentment these are definitely good noises that you're hearing foreign I do not want to miss this I mean any type of cetacean birth especially killer whales it doesn't happen very often believe me anybody in our area would sure be happy to see the birth and it's Takara it's Sakara and I'm the same way even though I'm on a phone list that's supposed to be activated when she goes in labor I'm still calling on my days off any signs yeah I do the same thing [Applause] [Music] you're not gonna die [Music] foreign look at kasaka she's totally like getting her to swim all right you're accelerating that's normal right yeah okay you could be doing that for the next hour and a half or so [Music] well the car looks good she's been in labor for probably about an hour or so we're getting close we keep seeing flukes keep coming in and out we're really hoping that she has it pretty soon here she looks like she's getting a little tired though so yeah we're hoping that Mom kind of comes in there and helps her out a little bit what do you think Mom's already shown some signs of helping her out the flukes have stiffened up a little bit everything looks good but this is a little longer than my anticipate so we're nervous but everything looks fine [Music] guys what's kazaki doing I can't tell him let's look at her she's like she's talking to her oh look at that she's getting her to swim Petey look I know Takara is tired right now I'm tired come on takey come on here she comes she looks tired well here she comes here she comes come on sticky come on hey there's a blue skin come out again come on sweetie foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] oh push it out does that looks like a little girl I know I know I know I know oh my God [Music] here she comes by here she comes oh look she's totally having a contractions come on there it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] swimming on its own it's swimming okay okay okay she's on her way up [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow [Applause] the car just had her calf it's great it looks awesome it took its first breath Grandma Mom and the baby are all swimming real strong the car looks like she's got a renewed sense of energy so she doesn't seem as tired all from her swimming together it looks great it does look great um everything looks perfect we had a baby laughs [Music] you're such a good mom if you are yes Takara is already so different as a mom but she's just so focused on the calf and she's a whole new whale she's just turned instantly overnight into a mom because exciting that it's a girl thank God we were we were hoping for a girl so so far we don't have a name for takara's calf but hopefully in the next few months we'll let her personality dictate what her name she's very clingy to her mom uh mom is very clingy to her there really isn't a whole lot of Independence as of yet they're swimming around together all the time the baby stays close also Takara is very protective it's neat to see that protective side of the car that we've never seen before the personality that's emerging with the cat is she's very gentle different than some of the other killer whale calves I've been around she's not as outgoing she's a little bit more timid she's very sweet very gentle she's very girl Takara has really been our best indicator of what to do with the cab look at the cat she's starting to really feel comfortable with the trainers and this is brand new stuff and she is our best teacher telling us when it's time to interact with the baby when it's time to get in the water and when not to the cap is a brand new thing we're pretty excited so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go ahead and see how the baby does and just work on a relationship a little bit of learning for both mom and baby see how they do so I'm gonna go ahead and get in here hi YouTube right now what you're seeing is uh us getting the baby into car used to having someone in the water oh Wendy and I have both spent a little bit of time in there with baby and her mom to the baby this is probably just all fun you know she was coming over she getting nice rub down so right now she probably thinks this is pretty cool [Music] it'll be fun over the next days months and years seeing her develop and getting to know her personality even more and you know you come back in a couple years and she'll be doing jumps around the pool so it's amazing in the first couple of years that they learn that baby's so darn cute you just enjoys life the bond that we're forming right now with the cast very special and it's it's changing every day we're seeing the calf starting to really recognize her trainers and you know she'll she'll see a trainer in front of her and her eyes get bigger she's really starting to recognize us the cat brings a lot of joy to us every day she's teaches us something new every time we see her ice cubes which is awesome she's getting to know that those things are very valuable and gotten positive I think it's one of the most unique experiences to be able to work with a young killer whale and to have a relationship with Sahara like I do I am so excited that I get to know her baby I mean just working with a killer whale is amazing but a baby killer whale and the fact that it's takara's baby pretty excited [Music] next up on Animal Planet

Channel: seawolftheorca

Views: 4,000

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Id: WyD6E6TK6eU

Length: 21min 21sec (1281 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 04 2023