Gender: MalePod: N/APlace of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, FranceDate of Capture: Born Februa

Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born February 13, 1996
Age at Capture: Captive born

On February 13, 1996, Icelandic female Freya gave birth to her only living calf at Marineland Antibes in France; a male named Valentin sired by Kim II. Freya had previously had two stillbirths prior to Valentin’s birth, and proceeded to have two more stillbirths afterwards.

Valentin was very close with his mother and half-sister Shouka before Shouka was moved to America. He could often be seen performing with his mother, Freya, but didn’t seem to care for interacting with the public at the underwater viewing area.

As he grew, Valentin’s dorsal had remained somewhat straighter and more erect than other captive males, possibly due to Marineland Antibes large 11 million-gallon tank complex for the whales. He was also known for a strange marking on his chin. It is unclear what it was, but it had been present for many years and did not seem to get better or worse.

Valentin is also believed to be the father of Keijo, a calf born in 2013 to Valentin’s half-sister, Wikie; meaning that Valentin would be both Keijo’s uncle and his father. However, Keijo seems healthy and appears to be doing well.

On June 20, 2015, the park was dealt a heavy blow when Freya died suddenly after a long battle with an unknown illness. Since Freya was the matriarch of the Marineland France park, it was unclear how her death would affect the social structure of the remaining 5 Orca. The fact that Valentin had been closest to his mother was particularly worrying, as wild male Orca sometimes don’t fare well after their mothers death.

On October 3rd, massive flash-flooding devastated the south of France. It also wiped out nearly 90% of the filtration and electrical systems at Marineland, causing many of the parks animals to die and turning the Orca tanks a murky greenish-black color due to mud and various other debris, possibly including toxic chemicals and substances like gasoline. It was soon learned that Marineland, despite having been flooded and closed in the past, did not have any emergency plans.

Unfortunately, on October 12, 2015, Valentin died suddenly due to Intestinal Volvulus (twisted intestine) at just 19 years old. He had not shown symptoms of the illness until a few hours before his death.

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