Corky (killer whale)

Corky (II) is a female captive orca (or killer whale) from the A5 Pod in British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives at SeaWorld San Diego in California. Corky (II) received her name after the park's original Corky died in December 1970. Of the other animals captured on that day, only Corky still survives. She is estimated to have been born in 1966 and it is believed that her mother is Stripe (A23), who died in 2000.

Life at Marineland

Corky was placed in a small pool with an adult male, Orky (II), also caught in Pender Harbor the year before her own capture. The two Orcas remained together at the park for the next 17 years.

During her time at Marineland, Corky became the first Orca to become pregnant and give birth in captivity. With her first calf, nobody even knew she was pregnant. On February 28, 1977, the first calf to be born alive in captivity was born at Marineland to Corky and Orky. The calf was a male and died after eighteen days.

Corky went on to give birth six more times while at Marineland. Kiva, the longest surviving calf, lived only a total of 47 days. There are several reasons as to why Corky's calves did not survive. The first might be that she was captured too young to have learned how to properly take care of a calf. Though, even after she went through training to teach her how to nurse, the calves continued to die. Another reason the calves died so young could be attributed to the shape of Marineland's pools — small circles. Corky had to continually...
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