||| FROM NEWSWEEK |||
A female orca has died in a theme park aged only twenty years old.
Kohana was the daughter of Tilikum, the subject of the documentary Blackfish and responsible for the deaths of three trainers.
Kohana’s death marks the third killer whale to die at the Loro Parque marine park in Tenerife, Spain in the past 18 months.
Previously in August 2021, a three-year-old orca named Ula died, and shortly before that in March 2021, 17-year-old Skyla died. In the wild, female killer whales can live for up to 80 years.
According to dolphin activism non-profit Rick O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, Kohana was born in captivity at SeaWorld San Diego, and was sent to Tenerife when she was only three years old on a breeding loan.
According to UK charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the bond between orca mothers and calves are extremely close. In the wild, orcas live in social family groups led by matriarchs, which are often the mothers of many of the members of the pod.
Some orcas stay with their mother their whole lives, with her passing down hunting techniques and other knowledge to her offspring.
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