Kiska the Orca

Orca by Saeeda

Grade 4 students at Grenoble PS had a great time learning about orcas during their recent Keep It Wild workshop. They had a chance to build food chains, study spectrograms, experience sound waves travelling through bone, and try their best to catch their prey using echolocation. (We all agreed that orcas are way better at echolocation then humans!) 

After learning about the bond that orcas form with their families, many students were concerned to find out that Kiska, a captive orca whale at Marineland, is living alone, without any other orcas to socialize with. Many of their orca pictures featured another orca for Kiska to play with and communicate with.

Kiska and her friend! by Zachariah

2 or more by Tabassum

Kiska and her family hunting by Ezhil

Kiska having fun with her friend by Wida

 The students wrote postcards to share their ideas and opinions about orcas in captivity. Many students suggested changing her captive habitat so that she could have more space, could hunt live prey, and could socialize with another whale. Other students hoped that Kiska might some day be released back into the wild.

Kiska can be sent into the wild by Ashwini

Stay tuned for more great pictures from the grade 4 Grenoble students.

Postcards for Kiska

This past year grade 4 students at Clairlea learned all about orcas in their Awesome Orcas Keep It Wild! workshop. Students spent a long time discussing the differences between the natural habitat of orcas and life in captivity. 

Here's a great message for Marineland from Iyanna:

I love your rides and all, but your whale shows concern me. I think you should make the whales happy. 

Picture by Avri

Kamal thoughtfully comments on the educational value of keeping whales in captivity:

A greeting! I would like to talk about orca whales. I think you shouldn't keep them in captivity because children aren't learning what whales are. In the wild they are the number 1 predator. 

Picture by Sankavis 

And Gowtham comments about the risk of keeping these highly social and intelligent animals in captivity:

Orca whales in captivity don't get enough space. They get no communication with other whales [when kept isolated, like Kiska]  and they don't get to hunt. The orca whales might go crazy and kill their trainers. 

Picture by Maddy 

Orcas - Keep Them Wild! 

Keep It Wild is back in the classroom!

Our animal-themed workshops are back in the classroom for the 2013-2014 school year, and our blog is back too, after a bit of a hiatus! Today the first workshop of the new school year was delivered, our Awesome Orcas workshop for grade 4's.

During one of our discussions about how orcas live and communicate within their family pods, several students referred to individual whales as people.  When India put a ban on the import and capture of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) for entertainment this past summer, they released a statement noting that dolphins [and whales] are highly intelligent and should be considered 'non-human persons'. The idea of a non-human person seems like a concept that scientists, lawyers and ethicists might be discussing, but it seems that nine-year-olds are also more than capable of considering the idea of a person who is of a different species.

The grade 4's also learned about orcas in captivity, including Kiska, an orca who has been living without the companionship of another whale since 2011 at Marineland in Niagra Falls.  Learn more about Kiska and Marineland through this series of  Toronto Star articles. 

Photograph of Kiska by JoAnne McArthur We Animals

 

Orcas in Captivity Versus The Wild

Grade 3/4 students at Dundas Street Public School recently learned more about orcas and their habitats. They compared the life of an orca in the wild with the life of an orca in a marine park. 

Their postcards on behalf of Corky show us some of the struggles that orcas face in captivity:

Orcas in marine parks are socially isolated from their family pod: 

Picture by Xin

They live in barren environments: 

Picture by Declan

They are confined to small pools and can't engage in natural behaviours like hunting: 

Picture by Jessica

They suffer high mortality rates: 

Picture by Alex

They have to perform circus tricks to earn food:

Picture by Maxwell

In the wild, their lives are vastly different:

Orcas live their whole life with their family pod:

Picture by Razore

They hunt in a vast and stimulating ocean environment using echolocation:

Picture by Helen

They can swim for many kilometres each day: 

Picture by Jierui

They have freedom: 

Thanks to all the students for their great artwork and comments. Their postcards will be sent to Seaworld, where Corky, who has been in captivity for more than 40 years, lives. Hopefully Corky gets a chance to reunite with her family pod, and swim in the ocean once again. She deserves her freedom after all these years.