Keiko (orca) dies

He died of pneumonia, at approxmiately 27 years of age.

This is very young for an orca. They normally live into their 50s and 60s.

I seen that on the news tonight very sad

Pneumonia and other lung problems seem to be rather common in captive animals. I was reading about some of the findings as far as causes of death on found Alaskan orcas, and they said a lot of their problems seemed related to old age. (I just packed all my books to move, but if you want I'll look up the specifics when I get the chance.) I don't specifically remember anything to do with the lungs.

I don't think they can accurately say 'most orcas die from this or that' because in the wild, when a cetacean dies they typically just disappear.

Also, research is only beginning in Norway, and as far as I know, very little has been done on Icelandic orcas, where Keiko is from. I think Ocean Futures was doing some cataloguing, but I never heard of any results from their work.

Wrong, research on killer whales in Norway began in Lofoten in 1983 and has been ongoing continiously since 1987. To date, over 550 Killer whales have been Identified and classified into over 40 family groups..

The Icelandic institute for Marine research has an extensive ID catalogue and research on killer whales has been ongoing in Iceland for years.

To date, there have been no matches between the Norwegian, Icelandic and UK catalogues...

The fallacy that killer whale research in Norway is only beginning probably comes from reading the Fwkf / Hsus press releases - they have repeatedely stated that ' We know little about killer whales in the North East Atlantic ' ..... maybe they don´t but there are a number of researchers who do......

GM - you would be George McCullough?

wrote:

We already know how you feel about FWKF and the Keiko release, as you have been steadily badmouthing the project in this newsgroup since at least Sept. 2, 2002. Back then you promoted and vigorously defended a Norwegian scientist's call for having Keiko destroyed.

The evidence (available to anyone in Google Groups search) says we can safely classify you as rabidly antagonistic to FWFK, therefore you cannot be trusted to accurately relay any of their public statements.

Please post the full text of the press releases you are claiming say this or post links to where they may be found so that exact statements may be read and examined in their proper context.

Michael A. Hobson The Dolphin Speech Project [no, I don't work with dolphins. see web site for project details] web: http://www.dolphin-speech.org email: mike (at) crusader (dash) services (dot) com icq: #2186709 yahoo: warrior_mike2001

Sorry, I meant 'George McCallum'

Who moi? and yes, as I pointed out back then - if you actually LISTEN to what The man said in context - he was perfectly right ... but then again Hobson, as you do not speak or read Norwegian .... tough titty .. you have to rely on the media....

Not at all - in fact, I spent a very pleasant couple of days chatting with a member of the Keiko Norway Field team in Tysfjord just a few weeks ago.

Ummm did´nt you just write this?... ' therefore you cannot be trusted to accurately relay any of their public statements.'

Well in that case, Do your own googling Hobson ..... ;op

Would you believe me if I said yes?