Marineland Canada (MLC) Fans

Acadia Gave Birth!

2011-09-13T00:51:00.003-04:00

Acadia gave birth to a little baby boy on August 30th. It is the first boy in a few years (Horus and Burnaby were the last)! Caspian and Jubilee are still pregnant.

Skyla Gave Birth!

2011-08-25T21:03:00.004-04:00

Skyla gave birth this morning to a big, healthy baby girl! Skyla is the first female to give birth this season. Acadia, Caspian and Jubilee are still pregnant.

Trip Report: May 14, 2011

2011-05-16T21:23:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone!

So opening weekend was this weekend and I took a drive down on opening day to see the park. The weather was pretty horrible, it rained almost the entire time but it was worth it. The weather made us late, so we missed the opening by about an hour, but the park remained fairly empty all day because of the weather. I love it when it's empty like that, you don't have to wait around for a half an hour or more for a show and it's much easier to talk to the staff when they don't have to run around (as much) to tell people not to touch the animals, plus it's easier to actually play with the animals. So here's my trip report for the day!

We got there before 11 and got our pictures taken for our season pass cards. After that we sped along to Friendship Cove and decided not to watch the first dolphin show of the day (which was reportedly a disaster, but it was only the first show).

It was raining so we went straight into the underwater viewing area, to see Kiska and Ike swimming together! Ike was tucked underneath Kiska like a little calf. I was so shocked and surprised to see them together, because everyone I talked to had little hope they were ever going to get along last year. It made me so happy to see them together, it must have been lonely for both of them but I hope that Ike has learned to be more calm around her and give her some space. The gate to the medical tank has been left open, so Kiska sometimes ducks in there and Ike seems to follow her only half the time. Kiska looks much better than she did last year, she's moving around a lot better. She swims faster, doesn't do just laps around the tank. I even saw her do a couple barrel rolls while she was floating, which was really cute.

It didn't take long for Ike to come down and say hello, smiling and sticking his tongue out at me. I've noticed he really like to do this thing where he folds his tongue in half (almost upside down), it's adorable. I went in between playing with the belugas and playing with Ike. Jellybean came over first, then Burnaby, Horus, Osiris, Rain and Meeka. The belugas are exactly as they were last year, goofballs as always.

I was meeting a friend at the park so I left the viewing window to go check my text messages and as I did, Ike came down to the window and stuck his tongue out at me like, "Hey where are you going?" I just laughed. I played with him for a little while longer before heading upstairs where they were doing a training sessions with Ike before the Splash Session at 12.

He did a big breach and got some love from his trainer while Kiska was being fed. We decided to hang around until the Splash Session started, Ike was super excited as usual and was bouncing all over the place. His first jump was a big bellyflop and wow, he looks so huge when he jumps out of the water like that! Half of the tank was blocked off because there wasn't many people so we had to stand kind of in the wet zone, but the trainers were nice and only directed him to splash the one side where we weren't standing. He did a great Alien, and a Froggy right in front of me. It looks like they are retraining Kiska for a few small behaviours. I would love to see them jump together again, but they say she is retired now.

We watched the belugas up top for awhile. The belugas were so naughty and were squirting people with water all day. One guy who wasn't watching got the biggest mouthful of water right to his face that I've ever seen, I'm sure his camera was ruined. I couldn't help but laugh! I didn't feel as bad, because the group of people kept on trying to touch the belugas before hand even though we told them not to. People think the belugas are just so cute and adorable, but they are naughty little bugger sometimes! After watching the belugas, we went to the second dolphin show of the day.

Sonar came over and played with me for a few minutes which was super cute. Lida was so excited she started doing breaches around the tank and I wasn't expecting it, so water splashed all over me! They have changed some things in the show around. The show is like a combination of last years show and the show before that. Before the show started, there was a man walking around in a janitor uniform 'cleaning' the bars on the slide-out very suggestively. He had his cleaning bucket and rag and started straddling the rails to clean them, it was hilarious. The people in the front row were so confused.

Suddenly, some music starts and the guy is dancing through the stands and he takes off his uniform to reveal the most colourful wetsuit I've ever seen in my life with his name 'Spandy Andy' on the front. He dances around on stage for awhile before the show starts. Then the show picks up with the old show, where the stage is a mess and the sea lions have to clean up. They were using Sydney and Malibu in the show, the two younger sea lions, as well as Tide. They have been doing a lot of training with the younger sea lions, presumably trying to move the older sea lions out and the younger ones in.

Sydney did a large portion of the show, though there was a little confusion where she'd go off stage when she wasn't supposed to and she ran right into the podium, the poor thing. She'll get the hang of it eventually! There were a few new sea lion behaviours with her, like the hoop jump and a footpush.

After an in-water session with Syd, Spandy Andy appears on the slide and 'falls' into the water where he has to be rescued and resuscitated by Sydney. The audience always goes crazy for sea lion CPR.

Marina, Echo and Lida were used in the show while Sonar and Tsu were kept together in the side tank. The dolphin section of the show was the same as last year. I think the dolphins may have been over eager to perform, but they did better than the first show.

Buttercup came out, she looks huge! It looks like she has grown a lot over the winter, her head looks even smaller, haha. The dolphins did a good finale jump and a lazy slide-out at the end.

After the dolphin show we went back to Friendship to see another Splash Session with Ike. The belugas were floating around in the shallow end a lot, Charmin has taken residence up there and sometimes Jellybean and Tofino swim around up there with her.

I think Kiska was getting a check up done with the vet, they looked at her mouth and her skin while Ike was performing. Ike did a really great spin bow/corkscrew, looks like he's gotten better at that over the winter. His kicker was also really great, he's getting some good height on that.

We went back to Arctic Cove after the session to see who all the new mothers were. When we got there, I was completely confused at the setup. The maternity pool has been switched to B pool instead of A pool. I was confused to see Talia and Sierra in with the pregnant mothers, but I later learned that Talia and Sierra had refused to switch over to A tank so they just left them in there. The pregnant belugas are Skyla, Caspian, Acadia and Jubilee. I was really surprised to see Acadia pregnant, she is the first of the newer belugas (came to Marineland in 2008) to be pregnant (although she is the oldest of the bunch). I'm really curious to see how he pregnancy goes. She will have Oceanna, Isis, and Jubilee with her, who are all successful mothers, which will hopefully help her. Xena and Eve, Cleo and Neva, Andre, Gemini, Peanut, Peekachu, Secord, Kodiak, Orion, Aurora, and Lillooet are all in A pool. Oceanna and Mira, Isis and Qila, Caspian, Jubilee, Acadia, Sierra, Skyla, Talia, and Belyi are in B pool. which is the new maternity pool. Kelowna and Charlotte are currently in the medical pool. The glass was so foggy from the humid weather that I got absolutely no photos of the whales at Arctic Cove. None of them were interested in interacting, probably because of the weather and being shuffled around. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was in which tank because none of them would come close to the glass!

Back at Friendship Cove we watched the belugas up top for awhile. Sneaky Osiris squirted me in the side with nice cold salt water, I was shocked. Not that that is the first time one of them has tried to squirt me! It was raining all day so I was already wet, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Of course it got some laughs from everyone, at least I saved my camera! So much for Osiris being innocent, I should have known better!

Ike was interested in playing again, he came down again and made lots of goofy faces. I had my plush toy, slinky and a bottle of vitamin water sitting by the glass and for some reason, he was in love with the bottle. It was so funny, I think he wanted to eat it! I just had it sitting there because I was thirsty, I didn't think of using it as a toy. Ike makes me so happy, he's such a goof. He seems much happier now that he is with Kiska. He has his mouth open like all the time, wiggling his tongue around in there.

We went upstairs to watch the last Splash Session of the day (I saw all of them that day, wanted to make up for not seeing any during closing weekend while Ike was sick). It was still raining of course, the animals actually seem happier when it rains. It's all water to them! Ike did another great spin bow and Kiska got a lot of hands on time with her trainer. They were so cute, he was rubbing down her melon.

After that it was about 4:30 and I spent about an hour and a half playing with both the Friendship Cove belugas and with Ike, moreso with the belugas because Ike was swimming laps with Kiska. The belugas and I ran around and played because there was almost no one down there for the rest of the time.

Tuk and Tofino even came over briefly, Tuk made the most hilarious faces at me. I don't think he's ever come over when I was there before but he must have found something I was doing interesting. The same belugas from earlier came down to play (mostly Jellybean, Horus and Meeka). It was wonderful to spend so much time with the belugas, just hanging out and being silly. I really missed it.

Before we left, I popped into the aquarium dome to see one of the harbour seals swimming around. It was a seal I don't know, hopefully I can get an ID on it. I completely forgot about the aquarium dome, I would have liked to catch a show if they had one during the day, next time!

So that's my opening day trip report, hope you all enjoyed it!

Marineland Opens Tomorrow!

2011-05-13T19:58:00.001-04:00

Hey MLC fans!

Tomorrow marks the opening of the 2011 Marineland season! The weather isn't looking too good, but fingers crossed it will hold up enough. I'll be there hopefully most of the day getting my dose of cetaceans because I'm not sure when they next time I will get to go is. Can't wait to see all the animals, especially Jellybean and Ike, and of course all the baby belugas and how much they've grown. I'm really interested in seeing how many pregnant female belugas there are this year, may be a big number since Qila was the only one last year? We will see! I'll update you guys as soon as I can. :)

Curry

2011-04-29T17:00:00.002-04:00

Curry
Female Harbor Seal
Born in ?.
Arrived at Marineland on ?.
Located at the Aquarium Dome.

Curry is a female harbor seal that performs in the Aquarium Dome. She does demonstrations of seal behaviour, and helps people learn the different between sea lions and seals.

Curry is very similar to Baby. Curry is a bit darker and has a hint of gold to her coat while Baby is silver. Curry is much larger than Baby is. She has a long snout and long whiskers.

Jack

2011-04-28T16:17:00.003-04:00

A video of Jack in the Aquarium Dome, at 0:28 in the video.

Jack
Male Gray Seal
Born in 1980 (estimated).
Arrived at Marineland on November 24, 1981.
Located at King Waldorf Stadium (presumed).

Jack is the pinniped that has lived for the longest amount of time at Marineland. He came to Marineland two years after Kiska (killer whale). He is a male gray seal, one of two gray seals at Marineland. Jack performed in the Aquarium Dome for a number of years, but is currently not performing (Delphine performs instead). It is presumed he is living at King Waldorf Stadium with the other seals.

Jack is a dark brown/black with a slightly speckled chest. Compared to Delphine, he is much darker and his chest is less gold. He has a large horse-like head. It is possible he also has sight problems, like Delphine. He is one of the few gray seals in captivity.

A video of Jack in the Aquarium Dome, at 2:28 in the video.

Apollo

2011-04-27T16:34:00.006-04:00

Apollo
Male Pacific Walrus
Born in ?.
Arrived at Marineland on ?.
Located at the King Waldorf Stadium (backstage).

Apollo is a male walrus that performs in the King Waldorf Stadium.

While male, Apollo does not have tusks (presumably because he is too young). He has a very thick neck and a small head. His face is fairly flat. He has a pink spot on the left side of his face, under his short 'whiskers'. He is a bright tan colour all over, with blue and mostly pink flippers. His nose is slightly grey. He has a pale but large 'T' sharped mark down his back, leading to his tail.

Skyla

2011-04-26T13:12:00.002-04:00

Skyla

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2004.
Located in the side/B pool at Arctic Cove.

Skyla is was previously unmarked until she scraped her chin (seen in the below photo). Because Acadia also has a similar mark, it can be easy to confuse them. Acadia has a scraped upper lip while Skyla has a scraped chin. The skin around her eyes is faintly darker than the rest of her body. She has white freckles around both of her eyes.

Skyla spend most of her time with the older belugas at Arctic Cove, which include Andre, Kodiak, Orion, Jubilee, Caspian and Sierra. She is most commonly seen swimming with Andre and Sierra. She occasionally interacts in the underwater viewing area if something catches her interest, though she mostly swims in pod formation and participates in feeding sessions. More info on her personality coming soon...

Sierra

2011-04-24T01:16:00.006-04:00

Sierra

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2003.
Located in the side/B pool at Arctic Cove.

Sierra has a horizontal scratch over her right eye and a couple smaller scratches underneath and in front of the larger scratch. She has a little dent mark right in the middle of her melon. On her left side, she has a horizontal scratch above her ear (kind of behind her eye) abd two small scratch marks above her eye. She has a white diagonal scratch below her eye that points towards her ear. She has grey patches around both eyes that stretch upwards towards her blowhole.

Sierra seems to spend most of her time with Skyla and Andre (mostly Skyla). She can have a bit of an attitude at times. She does occasionally interact if something catches her interest. More info on her personality coming soon...

Sonja

2011-03-16T16:41:00.000-04:00

Sonja
"Sewn-ya"
Female Pacific Walrus
Born in ?.
Arrived at Marineland on ?.
Located at the King Waldorf Stadium (backstage).

Sonja is an adult female walrus that performs in the King Waldorf Stadium. She does not perform as frequently as Smooshi or Buttercup.

Sonja has a large set of tusks. They are about the same size as Zeus', however Zeus does not participate in shows. She is a bright pale brown colour with a pink belly. Her tail and most of her flippers is pink as well. She has a pale spot on her right her cheek/jaw. She has wrinkles in bands around her neck.

Interesting Marineland Videos 4

2011-03-15T15:12:00.002-04:00

Ike playing with some little girls.

1999 seal, sea lion and dolphin show in the Aquarium Dome (Part 4, there are more parts on their channel).

1999 sea lion and killer whale show (Part 9, there are more parts on their channel).

Delphine

2011-03-11T14:23:00.003-05:00

Delphine

Female Grey Seal
Arrived at Marineland in ?.
Located in the Aquarium Dome.

Delphine is an elderly Northern gray seal. She is gray with a golden and black speckled pattern down her chest and belly. The colour difference between her and Jack is very noticeable, as Jack is almost black. She has cataracts in both eyes and has limited vision. The nails on her flippers are very long.

Delphine is a well-known diva. Although very old and mostly blind, she still acts like the star of the show. Because of her sight issues, the trainers works very close to her and use a lot of touch when training. When not performing, she prefers to stay in her holding area. Her most well-known behaviour involves bending her neck all the way backwards (seen above). She is one of the few gray seals in captivity.

Delphine performing at the beginning of the video.

Kelowna

2011-03-10T21:36:00.003-05:00

Kelowna

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2004.
Mother of Charlotte.
Located in the front/A pool at Arctic Cove.

Kelowna has a very duck-like face when seen from straight on. She has a vertical scratch under her left eye. She also has a couple horizontal scratches behind her left eye and one small curved scratch in front. She has a white band around her neck, not as noticeable as Gemini's but still present.

Kelowna is a very protective mother to her daughter Charlotte. The pair are very close. When Charlotte is not beside her mother, Kelowna watches her from a distance. Her behaviour in general is similar to Gemini. They both get very excited at meal time and will spyhop to look for trainers when they know it is time to eat. Charlotte can be seen coming up to breathe while her mother spyhops.

Peanut

2011-03-08T16:44:00.002-05:00

Peanut (Nut/Nutters)

Peale Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2003.
Located in the B/side pool at Arctic Cove.

Peanut has a horziontal white scratch over and in front of her right eye and another slightly below and in front of that. She has a white circular scar in front of the right eye and a long vertical scratch behind it. She has diagonal scratches on each side of her rostrum (they look like whiskers). She has a line between her rostrum and melon, and another smaller line below that on the front of her rostrum. She has similar scratches around her left eye, a horziontal line over top of her eye and a small scratch in front. She has has a small diagonal line over that same eye. A long thin line reaches from the corner of her left eye down on to her lower jaw.

Peanut and Peekachu spend a lot of their time together. Peanut is very sweet, gentle, and kind. When the newer belugas arrived in 2008, Peanut was very interested in welcoming them into the pod. Her and Aurora developed an early friendship, though Peanut is very friendly with all of the belugas. She is still a fairly young beluga and loves to play and interact.

Surfer

2011-03-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

Surfer
ID# CSL-02-02-888
Female California Sea Lion
Born August 2, 1988 at SeaWorld California.
Arrived at Marineland on April 10, 1990.
Located at the King Waldorf Stadium.

Coral, Surfer and Tide are adult female sea lions that perform in the stadium shows. These three girls along with Dock are the beginning section of the show, which is the comedy section. The sea lions slide down slides, chase their trainers, play with hoops and basketballs, do jumps, and other various behaviours.

Surfer is almost as big as Tide. She sits on the seat closest to the center of the stage during the show. She is a "long" animal, she has a very long neck and longer body. She does not really have any other distinguishing features besides that.

Tide, Coral and Surfer (left to right).

Coral

2011-03-06T18:30:00.005-05:00

Coral
ID# CSL-02-02-588
Female California Sea Lion
Born June 1, 1988 at SeaWorld California.
Arrived at Marineland on April 10, 1990.
Located at the King Waldorf Stadium.

Coral, Surfer and Tide are adult female sea lions that perform in the stadium shows. These three girls along with Dock are the beginning section of the show, which is the comedy section. The sea lions slide down slides, chase their trainers, play with hoops and basketballs, do jumps, and other various behaviours.

Coral is the smallest of the three adult sea lions at the King Waldorf Stadium. She sits on the middle seat during the show. She has spots on the right side of her neck and her vibrassae (whiskers) are very long. Coral most commonly does the hoop catch section of the show.

Interesting Marineland Videos 3

2011-03-06T03:40:00.003-05:00

Ike playing with little kids.

Horus, Maple and Burnaby when they were babies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sECIdeJciw
Jellybean being born (embedding disabled, please click the link).

The Arctic Cove belugas playing with a little boy.

Tide

2011-03-02T17:42:00.005-05:00

Tide
ID# CSL-02-02-988
Female California Sea Lion
Born May 29, 1988 at SeaWorld California.
Arrived at Marineland on April 10, 1990.
Located at the King Waldorf Stadium.

Coral, Surfer and Tide are adult female sea lions that perform in the stadium shows. These three girls along with Dock are the beginning section of the show, which is the comedy section. The sea lions slide down slides, chase their trainers, play with hoops and basketballs, do jumps, and other various behaviours.

Tide is the biggest of the three adult female sea lions at King Waldorf Stadium. She sits on the seat closest to the wall during the show. Her nose turns upwards and her eyes are a little bulgier than the other sea lions. Her vibrissae (whiskers) are the shortest of the three females. She usually does the in-water part of the show as well as the CPR behaviour.

Interesting Marineland Videos 2

2011-03-01T18:34:00.002-05:00

A girl petting Kandu 7, back when petting and feeding the orcas was around.

Slow motion footage of the dolphins at King Waldorf Stadium.

Burnaby doing a huge bow.

Caspian

2011-02-28T22:22:00.003-05:00

Caspian

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2004.
Located in the side/B pool at Arctic Cove.

Caspian is fairly unmarked, her face is her most distinctive feather.. Her face resembles Tuk's (Friendship Cove). She has a horizontal scratch behind her right eye, just over her ear. She also has a similar scratch in front of that same eye. She has some rake marks along her back, but nothing that is extremely noticeable. The skin around her eyes and up around her blowhole is slightly darker. She has some notches missing out of both pectoral flippers, the right more-so than the left. She has a faint white band around the bottom of her neck.

Caspian is one of the most timid belugas at Marineland. She is very flighty. She almost never comes close to the underwater viewing window to interact. I've noticed she tends to hang around with Sierra and is almost never by herself, staying around with the older animals at Arctic Cove.

Interesting Marineland Videos

2011-02-27T16:13:00.001-05:00

Lillooet squirting water at people.

Training Ike's spin bow.

Isis being adorable and interacting. Qila also joins in.

Marineland in 1993

2011-02-26T14:39:00.005-05:00

Here are some home videos from Marineland in 1993. For those who don't know, Marineland did not have beluga whales at this time and Friendship Cove was not created yet.

Marineland 1993: Seal, Sea Lion and Dolphin Show

Marineland 1993: Sea Lion and Killer Whale Show

Video features Kandu 7, Nootka 5 with Neocia/Baby October, and Kiska.

Jubilee

2011-02-20T14:46:00.003-05:00

Jubilee

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2003.
Mother of Jellybean.
Located in the side/B pool at Arctic Cove.

Jubilee is a very large and chubby whale. She is the largest (besides Belyi) at Arctic Cove, so it's easy to pick her out by her side. She is light grey in colour with a darker grey coloration around her eyes. She has very small eyes (which make her look like they are closed). She has a whtie curved scar below the left side of her blowhole. Below that (above the left eye) she has a collection of white scars and a small scar just about the eye. She has 2 vertical scratches in front and behind of her right eye and a long horizontal scratch above the same eye.

Personality coming soon...

Gemini

2011-02-18T10:47:00.008-05:00

Gemini

Female Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 1999.
Mother of Aurek (SeaWorld Orlando) and Burnaby.
Located in the front/A pool at Arctic Cove.

Gemini is an adult female with an off-white skin colour. The sides of her face are a pale grey. She has many facial markings on her face. On her left side she has two horizontal white scratches on her lower jaw. She has a white blob behind her left eye and a bunch of white scratches in front of and over it. On her right side she has three diagonal scratches on her lower jaw. She has three scratches in front her her eye that point outwards and a diagonal scratch over the back of that eye. She has a very distinctive 'neck band'.

Gemini recently lost her daughter Sasha on the final day of the 2010 season. I assume that she will be moved back into the adult pool (B pool) and out of the baby pool (A pool) if she has not been moved already. She has two sons, Aurek (who now lives at SeaWorld Orlando) and Burnaby (who lives at Friendship Cove). Before Sasha's passing, Gemini had given birth to the most calves at Marineland (followed by Xena with 2). Gemini absolutely love eating, she always spyhops when she knows a meal is coming soon. She gets very excited. She is a very close and caring mother and is very energetic.

Tofino

2011-02-17T11:43:00.002-05:00

Tofino (Tof)

Male Beluga Whale
Arrived at Marineland in 2004.
Located in the front pool at Friendship Cove.

Tofino is a very large, white male beluga. His most striking characteristic is his bright blue eyes. He has a notch in the upper left side of his mouth. He has a collection of diagonal scratches on the left side of his rostrum (almost look like whiskers). He also has 2 horizontal scratches under his left eye. His left eye has many white scratches around it. He has grey circular patches over both eyes. He has a wavy horizontal white scratch along the left side of his rostrum. He has a small crease between his rostrum and melon. He has a very wrinkly belly. The edges of his pectoral flippers are a dark grey.

Tuk and Tofino are the highest ranking belugas of the Friendship Cove pod, with Tuk most likely the head honcho. Even though he has the highest rank, he is not necessarily "the boss". He and Tofino kind of keep the other whales in-line and will 'protect them' and check things out first. Tofino is more laid back than Tuk, though his appearance makes him look a little scary. He is actually one of the most dependable belugas when it comes to in-water sessions. He is a very fast learner and is comfortable working with his trainers, especially with hands-on training.