#port of nagoya aquarium
Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Port of Nagoya Aquarium, Japan
Date of Capture: Born November 13, 2012
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Port of Nagoya Aquarium, Japan
On November 13, 2012, the Icelandic female Stella gave birth to her fifth calf at the Port of Nagoya Aquarium; a female named Rin, sired by the Icelandic male Bingo.
Stella, Bingo, and one of their daughters, Ran II, were all moved to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium in December 2011 following the devastating 2011 Tsunami. At the time of their move, Stella was already 7 months pregnant with Rin.
Unfortunately, Bingo died in August 2014, leaving behind Stella and 2 of her daughters - Ran II and Rin.
Today, Rin is 2 years old and remains at the Port of Nagoya Aquarium with her mother and sister. It is unclear if there are any future plans to breed them, as the only way would be through Artificial Insemination of the transfer of an unrelated breeding male to the Aquarium.
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Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
Date of Capture: Born October 13, 2008
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Port of Nagoya Aquarium, Japan
On October 13, 2008, the captive-born female Lovey gave birth to her first calf at Kamogawa Sea World; a male named Earth sired by the Icelandic male Oscar.
With the addition of Earth, Kamogawa was rather crowded, so his grandparents, Stella and Bingo, were moved to the back pool. Lovey took great care of Earth, and soon enough he was introduced to his aunt Lara and father Oscar.
In December of 2011, Stella, Bingo, and Earth’s aunt Ran II, were moved to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium, leaving the other four whales behind at Kamogawa.
Earth spent a lot of time with his mother until July of 2012 when his little sister, Luna, was born. Lovey became unusually aggressive towards Earth and would rake him on occasion. This resulted in staff having to separate the pair for Earth’s safety. He would join Oscar in the back pools, spending a great deal of time with him until Oscars death in December 2012.
In December 2015, Earth was moved to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium in exchange for his aunt, Ran II, who was moved to Kamogawa Sea World. This move was done in an effort to “stabilize breeding” between the facilities.
Today, Earth is 7 years old and now resides with his grandmother, Stella, and his aunt, Rin.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
Date of Capture: Born on February 25, 2006
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
On February 25, 2006, the Icelandic female Stella gave birth to her fourth calf at Kamogawa Sea World in Japan; a female named Ran II sired by the Icelandic male Bingo.
Ran II grew up under the watchful eye of her mother, but was also looked after by her older sisters, Lovey and Lara. Unfortunately, her other sister, Sarah, died in April of that year.
In 2008, when Lovey gave birth to a calf of her own, Stella, Bingo, and Ran II were moved to the back tank. Soon enough, plans were made to transfer the three to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium. The move was delayed until December, however, due to the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan.
In 2011, it was also announced that Lovey and Stella were both pregnant again; which is reportedly what prompted the move. Ran II was moved first to the aquarium and spent some time alone before her parents arrived the next day.
In late 2012, Stella gave birth to her fifth calf, yet another female, later known as Rin. Unfortunately, in August of 2014, Bingo became sick and died on August 2, leaving behind all three females and no breeding males.
In December of 2015, Ran II was moved back to Kamogawa Sea World in exchange for her nephew, Earth, who was moved to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium. This move was done in an effort to “stabilize breeding” between the facilities.
Today, Ran II is 9 years old and now resides at Kamogawa Sea World with her sisters, Lovey and Lara, as well as her niece, Luna.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
Date of Capture: October 1987
Age at Capture: Approx. 1 year
Current Location: Port of Nagoya Aquarium
Sometime in October 1987, a group of four Orcas were captured in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. They were immediately transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium where they were trained and put up for sale.
The following year in March 1988, all four were purchased by Kamogawa Sea World; known as Bubba, Maggie, Oscar, and Stella. When they arrived, they met the resident male, Bingo, who had been captured in 1984. They were all trained for waterworks and soon began performing in shows together.
However, Bubba was sold to Ocean Park in Hong Kong in 1989, and Maggie died in 1997 due to birth complications. This left just Stella, Bingo, and Oscar until 1998, when Stella gave birth to her first calf at 12 years old, a female named Lovey sired by Bingo. Lovey was the first surviving captive born calf in Japan.
Stella gave birth to her second calf in 2001, another female named Lara who was also sired by Bingo. Two years later, in 2003, Stella gave birth again to a third female named Sarah sired by Bingo. It was thought Sarah was a male at first, but staff were soon able to properly determine her sex.
In February of 2006, Ran II was born to Stella and Bingo, and would be the fourth female produced by the pair. However, in April of the same year, Sarah died due to unknown causes a month shy of her 3rd birthday.
Sometime in 2007, Bingo, Stella, and Ran II were moved to the back pool in preparation for Lovey’s first calf, Earth, who was born in 2008 and sired by Oscar.
By 2011, plans had been made to move Stella and Bingo to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium to join the female known as Nami, but the move was postponed after a Tsunami and the death of Nami.
In December of 2011, Stella, Bingo, and Ran II were finally moved to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium, and Stella, who had been pregnant during the move, gave birth to her fifth daughter with Bingo in November 2012. The calf, known as Rin, was the first calf to be born at the Aquarium and is potentially Stella’s last calf, as Bingo recently died on August 2, 2014.
Stella is described as a gentle whale, and has never been known to act aggressively towards other whales or her trainers, though her health and behavior has been questioned before. In 2011, videos of Stella, and others, repeatedly sliding up on the stage at Kamogawa Sea World appeared on YouTube; and on September 10, 2013, she sustained an injury to her dorsal, but the cause of the injury is still unknown.
Today, Stella resides at Port of Nagoya with her daughters Ran II and Rin, and is approximately 29 years old.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Hatajiri Bay, Japan
Date of Capture: February 9, 1997
Age at Capture: Approx. 5 years
A group of 10 Orcas were captured on February 9, 1997 in Hatajiri Bay in Japan. Five of the whales were released, while the remaining five whales were kept and sold to marine parks.
One of the females, known as Ku, was sold to the Taiji Whaling Museum. When she arrived, her health immediately began to deteriorate and she lost weight. She reportedly had several tumors that were removed after being discovered. She was sickly for about a year until she finally began to recover and eat properly.
Ku was soon placed with the Museum’s other female, named Nami. However, Nami was an aggressive whale, and the pair were separated as they did not get along. Ku was the friendlier whale who was often used to interact with guests, sometimes being touched by them.
In October 2003, Ku was sent to the Port of Nagoya Aquarium on a 5 year breeding loan. Ku was trained for Artificial Insemination and staff hoped she would become pregnant; but she disliked the procedure and it was stopped with her.
Ku performed alongside several smaller dolphins and was typically a very friendly whale. In the mid-2000’s, however, she was recorded lunging at a trainer standing on the slideout who had been reaching over into a bucket of fish.
In July 2008, Ku began refusing to eat and became very ill. She was moved to the medical pool where she slowly got better and recovered in August.
Unfortunately, on September 19, 2008, Ku was found dead at the bottom of the medical pool due to apparent heart failure. She had reportedly contracted a Herpes virus that weakened her immune system.
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