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Yesterday, Tuesday 10th of December, Marineland (France) finally made an official announcement of a new orca calf. (Let’s remind ourselves that the baby was born on November the 20th).

The mother, Wikie, has already given birth to a male orca, Moana, in March 2011, via AI, thanks to Ulises’ sperm (a male orca from the group SeaWorld – where a trainer was recently killed by an orca attack).
At first, the staff thought Moana was a female, hence the name. We understand why they are taking their time now!

According to this white paper written by Dr Naomi Rose, wild orcas reach sexual maturity at approximately 14, and females give birth approximately every 5 years.

In comparison, Wikie had her first calf at 10, and her second calf only 32 months later.

As said in their announcement, we do not know the father’s identity. Nevertheless, rumors tend to say that Valentin is the father. But, the two estimated parents are related. ALL ORCAS AT MARINELAND ARE RELATED. We can only hope there will be no repercussions on the calf. We do not want the baby to know the same fate as little baby Vicky in last June...

SOURCES :
http://digitaljournal.com/article/362629/
http://www.blog-les-dauphins.com/orques-marineland-antibes/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MARINELAND/64495333845