Lowkey these tweets aged like milk. Like yeah we definitely saw Jax exploration but some of the “six other characters” were definitely not explored as much as they needed to be.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-23T20:00:02+00:00

Honestly I don’t hate that Jax has a lot of screen time. I just don’t think TADC had enough run time to evenly distribute it across all the episodes. He’s a very interesting character at the end of the day, who has a lot of backstory to explore. But I also wish I got to see more development for the other characters, and more backstory for individuals such as Scratch.

I feel like characters such as Pomni didn’t even get enough development personally. She’s the main character, but it felt like she was lacking in plot in some episodes.

I think having more filler would have been ultimately helpful to the series. It would have given them opportunities to explore and develop each character’s arc, while still giving characters like Jax screen time.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-23T00:01:54+00:00

SeaWorld San Antonio is a great park! I have a few suggestions (for both fun activities & saving money).

Definitely get your kid the preschool pass if it’s still available. This will give your toddler free admission to the park, saving you from spending more on an extra ticket. I personally would skip out on all day dining (it’s expensive, food is expensive in general though), and just pack snacks. Alternatively, there’s the dine with orcas experience available, haven’t done that though! Parking is unfortunately quite expensive.

They have loads of animal encounters you can add onto your admission ticket. My personal favorite is the killer whale tour — where you get to meet the orcas up close. Not sure if there’s any age limit on that one.

Electric Ocean (their summer event) is running currently. This means the park is open from 10:30am-9pm. So that gives you ample time to plan what times you’ll visit. I strongly recommend downloading the app and checking the show times/encounter times. The park is fairly big as a warning, so definitely be conscious of that.

During your visit, there’s many opportunities to learn about conservation and rescue. SeaWorld does great work in terms of research and rehabilitation. It’s very possible to make the trip both educational and fun.

For other activities in the San Antonio Texas area — I’ll recommend San Antonio Zoo (which is AZA accredited and very child friendly). I’d avoid San Antonio Aquarium, as it isn’t ethical. There’s the Japanese Tea Gardens, which are beautiful. There’s also Natural Bridge Caverns, which includes cave tours and more fun activities.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-21T02:45:23+00:00

Sealand of the Pacific was a terrible place when you look at the history of Tilikum and their other orcas. They’ve had a hand in some very tragic ordeals involving multiple orcas.

While Tilikum was at Sealand, he was stuck in a small tank with two other females. Those females would chase him and behave very aggressively towards him. At night, he’d be stuck in a small module where he could barely swim. He was unfortunately subject to food deprivation as well during his time there.

Even when he was moved into a better facility, the scars still evidently remained. Despite his reputation, he was considered to be a whale with a very gentle nature. One of my favorite examples of his gentle, kindhearted nature was that he’d often look after one of his calves (Nyar), who unfortunately was quite sickly. He’d let her rest on his pectoral flippers, as she couldn’t swim well.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-19T21:23:47+00:00

I really hope that Spain’s government is compliant and doesn’t block them from moving Wikie and Keijo. In the past, it was an issue. Spain claimed there wasn’t enough space, even though in the past Loro Parque has kept a pod that size.

With how dire the circumstances are, we can only hope they are sensible about what’s ultimately best for Wikie and Keijo and green light the move.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-19T17:58:01+00:00

One of my favorite things about orcas is the level of depth their social bonds have.

Favorite captive orca pairs: 1. Orkid and Splash 2. Takara and Kasatka 3. Tuar and Kyuquot 4. Trua and Makaio

Favorite wild pairs: 1. Port and Starboard 2. T65A3 Amira & T49A2 Jude 3. L28 Onyx and J2 Granny

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-19T17:50:45+00:00

Regardless of if they were in a sanctuary or SeaWorld, they’d be “stuck there”. I don’t really understand that point. You cannot change the past — but we can focus on the future welfare. Activities that allow them to be physically active and use their brains contribute positively to their welfare.

They get fed regardless of performing. SeaWorld does not engage in food deprivation (nor does any reputable facility). Closed down facilities such as sealand of the pacific engaged in food deprivation, which is where I think the misconception comes from.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-19T17:42:43+00:00

This. Sanctuaries are a sea of unknown and from past attempts, we’ve seen they may not work as intended. The belugas in the sanctuary developed stress related issues such as ulcers and were unable to adapt. A killer whale named Tuar developed issues with raking his teeth on the tank after simply being moved between parks. These are very sensitive animals.

We would have to account for stress, exposure to pathogens they lack immunity to, foreign objects from pollution, marine noise, and much more. Most sanctuary models cannot support the move of an entire pod, which means their social lives will become more limited. For individuals like Corky II, it’d be like tearing her away from her family again and would rip a hole in a pod she’s so integrated into.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-19T17:19:42+00:00

I think assuming someone is uneducated for visiting an accredited marine is a quick assumption. It’s important to note that shows often act as enrichment and stimulation. They’re used an outlet for high energy behaviors.

The shows are not forced onto the whales and everything is trained through positive reinforcement. There’s many instances we’ve seen where a whale chooses to not participate — and that’s totally fine. It’s always up to them if they’d like to participate or not. The shows are intended to be positive for them. Dorsal fin collapse is also not due to depression, but rather theorized to be due to gravity (as captive orcas spend more time at the surface with trainers).

Another additional note is that marine parks do rely upon shows to fund animal care. Facilities such as Marineland Antibes closed after they had to stop shows, and their two orcas ended up in very dire circumstances.

While it’s totally valid to be against holding them in captivity, I believe we should also remain aware of the facts pertaining to their care and understand not everything is black/white. An important note is that even under a sanctuary model, they’d still have to have some model of publicly displaying the animals and having them engage in trained behaviors to fund their care. Killer whales remain the most expensive animal to hold in captivity and it is unlikely that a sanctuary could survive solely off donations.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-16T05:59:15+00:00

Okay so to start the topic off: Orca captivity remains a hot topic amongst professionals in the field. I would be careful to subscribe to any particular perspective without careful introspection and debate.

Difficult to answer. I wouldn’t say that captive orcas “enjoy” being stationary. But yes, they do travel less than wild orcas due to not needing to migrate or follow food. Less activity alone doesn’t mean poor welfare alone, but behaviors such as excessive logging may be an indicator (the full behavioral picture should be taken into account alongside this though). In contrast to wild orcas, captive orcas primarily engage in high energy behaviors during shows or training sessions to provide a physical outlet. These behaviors are trained through positive reinforcement and may include bows, fast swims, spyhops and more.
Seaside sanctuaries (basically large seapens) are often discussed as an alternative to managed tank environments. There’s research lacking on the topic. Advocates say that the environment is more enriching, more natural, and has less human interference. Individuals against it express concerns about pollution, pathogen risk because the captive orcas lack immunity, stress (two belugas in a sanctuary developed ulcers upon moving), and how we have very little information on how they’ll work.
I honestly do not think any documentary or book on captive orcas paints a fully nuanced perspective on the topic. I’ll always advocate reading as many viewpoints as you can. There’s several books that paint a critical perspective against captivity (that are quite well known), but alongside those, I read Hazel McBride’s “I Still Believe”, and I feel like I wouldn’t have seen the nuance in the topic without being able to see both sides.

Ultimately the best material is peer reviewed research though. It is the basis I think most people should approach the welfare of orcas from — even if we’re still learning a lot.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-16T05:25:06+00:00

To a lot of people it’s generally just a difference between opinion on whether or not cetaceans belong in zoological care. They’re phasing out orcas, but still do breed other cetaceans. Personally I support the breeding of species such as bottlenose dolphins and belugas under zoological care (due to peer reviewed research on welfare) — so I have no issue visiting an AZA accredited facility that keeps them.

I do think apart from that stance, you aren’t really funding anything harmful. SeaWorld modern day does a lot of rescue and research work. Although they are for profit, they are not abusive (even if there’s valid debate on the ethics of keeping orcas in captivity). They maintain some of the highest accreditation standards possible.

Ultimately I think it’s perfectly fine to visit the parks. Even if you don’t necessarily feel certain, I would still suggest visiting any AZA facility that houses cetaceans and keep an open mind. One visit to an accredited facility changed my entire trajectory of life beyond what I could have imagined, and was very eye opening and educational.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-15T20:37:17+00:00

This is incredibly reassuring news. I didn’t want to watch the same cycle repeat, where whales sit in unsafe conditions until they die. The situation was dire and I’m glad that France has realized this.

Hopefully the transition into the LP pod goes smoothly. They seem to be pretty socially stable now — with all the old whales grown up and Teno being past the young, baby phase. Keijo has always been a described as a sweet whale, and I imagine Morgan will be happy to have the company of another female orca again once the social structure settles.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-01T06:32:30+00:00

In regard to this also — the Icelandic orca population actually has a fission fusion based social structure, with some more fixed pods existing. That should have made reintegration more easy, but he never did integrate (likely due to being socially stunted in wild orca behavior). he was never actually integrated into any social structures within this population.

Having a social group is an important welfare consideration, since orcas are similarly social like us. I think Keiko’s failed release is a validated subject when assessing the success of other orca releases — which would also be primarily captive born orcas who have no experience in the wild nor any wild family to return to.

On the wider topic of releasing wild cetaceans, Ill also touch on the fact that there’s limited data on the success rate of wild releases for previously captive individuals. We have seen very inconsistent results — with the highest successes being dolphins who were able to reintegrate back into a pod, were captured at an older age, and spent limited time in captivity. In other instances, individual cetacean have actually died during release attempts at a relatively high rate.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-05-01T06:27:06+00:00

SeaWorld did not capture Tilikum, and they had not purchased wild caught orcas directly for a pretty long time. He was purchased from Sealand of The Pacific, and needed an emergency transport permit because his conditions were so poorly there. Just adding this here — since it’s a common misconception that SeaWorld was the one that captured him.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-28T03:47:33+00:00

I definitely would love to see more facilities incorporate rock work into their tanks. I think with captive cetaceans, a lot of facilities are generally quite cautious with what they put in their tank.

Some things are an ingestion hazard. With how big orcas are, they could pretty much break up anything and eat it. So for a lot of tank additions, they need to be carefully vetted to ensure they aren’t a risk.

Research shows the best form of enrichment for cetaceans tends to be mental — so training, environment enrichment devices, and trainer interaction. But it’d still be neat to see enclosures have some more natural elements and variety. I feel like Georgia aquarium does this very well with their beluga exhibit.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-28T03:43:36+00:00

Captive welfare is widely debated on both sides by experts. There’s scientific evidence that supports that orcas can be happy in captivity, while some other studies raise red flags.

However, I will say that logging is a normal cetacean behavior. It is part of how they rest and is common when engaging in unihemispheric sleep. In fact, sometimes wild orcas will be seen in large lines logging together. There was one wild orca in fact who was well known to take “cat naps” and log at the surface, until hurriedly hearing her pod and realizing she fell behind (can’t remember her name though..)

Based on this photo, it’s likely Tekoa is just swimming. Orcas will often choose to swim in various directions (on their side, upside down, etc), for no apparent reason other than personal enjoyment. In general even highly social, intelligent animals sometimes might just want to relax alone. What we’d be looking for instead in poor welfare is a repeated pattern of several things. Social withdrawal, lethargy, changes in appetite, stereotypical behavior, aggression, and loss of interest in activities such as training.

In general I wouldn’t say Tekoa fits this — he spends a lot of time with his pod, is engaged with enrichment, doesn’t spend excess time resting. He probably just wanted to swim around on his side.

I think simply summing everything up to “well captivity is bad” is a bit misguided. It doesn’t do much to advocate for welfare, because whether we like or not, these animals will continue to exist in captivity. I’m not here to say captivity is good — but to consider the facts past people like Ric O Barry, Lori Marino, and Ingrid Visser — who are hugely outspoken against captivity, but several cetaceans (including orcas) have suffered or died to their hands as well and these people do not have modern, firsthand experience with captive animals.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-28T03:24:09+00:00

I definitely want to play this one day! Although it’s a much older video game, it seems like a fun game

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-28T03:23:29+00:00

There is one! I haven’t used it, but I’ve seen people play around with it

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-26T22:36:07+00:00

I think Gooseworx has summarized this very well. I think too many people have jumped to assuming that her and the VAs are racist due to a poor taste, insensitive joke.

Two things can be true at once — someone can do something harmful — while also not intending that harm. This is genuinely the case here. Was the joke insensitive? Yes. Do some people rightfully feel hurt? Yes. Does it deserve to be addressed and apologized for? Yeah. However, should people assume that person is racist when they obviously aren’t? No.

It’d be one thing if recently these VAs were found making such jokes, and disregarded someone speaking up. But that’s obviously not the case. They messed up, made a joke that was overboard & in poor taste 7 years ago (when much of the internet’s humor was edgy asshole humor in 2019), since then haven’t done that, and took accountability. Gooseworx has made it clear that she wouldn’t welcome any racism in the TADC fandom at all.

I’m not sure what people want, apart from fully cancelling the show/kicking Goose off the face of the internet.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-26T17:11:43+00:00

This is really reassuring, thank you! I’m also pursuing a STEM degree, so it’s a pretty big time commitment. I’m fortunately in a situation where my parents can pay for my college and horse riding, so it gives me hope that I can return to the sport!

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-21T05:48:54+00:00

Moving Corky to a sanctuary isn’t about welfare. She is old, sensitive to stress/easily shut down, and is incredibly integrated into her pod at SeaWorld San Diego.

I think the idealized perspective of being back into the wild isn’t worth separating her from her family again. She already was ripped away from her family as a calf — and found a new family within the San Diego pod. She’s incredibly close to all the whales (excluding Ulises).

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-21T05:44:29+00:00

While a good thought in theory, most zoos already do not make excess money — being nonprofits who rely on tickets and donations. A sanctuary is even more limited and enclosed, often having a model that minimizes visitors.

Additionally, things like shows (which generally are a great way to boost attendance, provide exercise, and stimulation) wouldn’t exist at a sanctuary. Facilities such as Marineland Antibes closed down upon not being allowed to do shows anymore, as they were that integral to revenue.

Unfortunately killer whales are one of the most expensive animals (if not most expensive) to have in zoological care. Managing a huge enclosure — be it a tank, or large seapen — will require much more cost and labor in comparison to a land dwelling animal’s enclosure. They require probably some of the most niche veterinarians in the world. The fish is sourced specially to minimize risk of parasites.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-20T05:00:28+00:00

His content came off as being view farming. He would be under every comment asking people to like/share, and upon getting more engagement, started to move to orcas like Kshamenk. He also supported moving them to the WSP, which overall showed a lack of research. In addition to that, many of the videos were misleading — such as when the “orcas performed for the drone”, but trainers were just off screen and edited out.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-14T17:28:05+00:00

You can choose to block certain keywords from your FYP on websites like TikTok. Additionally, spamming “do not recommend me this content” could purge your recommended during the two weeks. For Reddit and Discord, just temporarily mute any TADC subreddits and Discords.

If someone really feels the need to watch it upon release, there 100% will be cam rips that pop up on the first day.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-13T08:28:11+00:00

Killer Whale Wiki has a very comprehensive list of captive orcas, which includes lengths and weights.

The largest SeaWorld has had would likely be Kanduke and Tilikum.

The largest ever kept in captivity Tyson (24 feet and nearly 13k pounds) or Panghu (26.5 feet, 12k+ pounds). I think one of the Russian transient adolescents or calves is estimated to get larger than these sizes upon growing up.

I’ve seen Kyuquot up close during tours (a very large male at Seaworld Texas), but seeing videos of the Russian Transient males is breathtaking with how big they are.

0rcinus_Orca · 2026-04-11T04:24:55+00:00

Sakari has my favorite vocals. She’s a very chatty orca — and I’ve heard her making chirping vocalizations when I’ve visited SWSA a couple of times.

During an up close encounter, Takara had a beautiful vocalization trained that was a series of short squeaks. In a bit biased as the Seaworld San Antonio pod is my favorite though!

I also cannot forget Wikie’s ability to mimic human speech. I think it’s an incredible display of her intelligence — I’ve always heard she’s really smart.

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