When the Orcas Aren’t Performing

Like many captive wild animals, Orcas display stereotypic behavior in captivity. Stereotypic behavior has no goal or function, and can be a signal of mental illness. Some examples of this behavior are: vomiting, logging at the surface or pool bottom for extended amounts of time, bobbing up and down, swimming repetitive circles in a coma-like state, self-mutilation, tongue playing, and biting and gnawing on gates and pool walls. Sometimes Orcas will even use slide-outs as a means of displaying this behavi