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SeaWorld Facts

SeaWorld Facts
SeaWorld is a chain of marine mammal parks located in the United States. The parks are famous for their marine features such as killer whales, sea lions, and dolphins, along with shows and other features such as amusement park rides. SeaWorld opened in 1964, and has locations in San Diego, California, San Antonio, Texas, and Orlando, Florida. SeaWorld was originally going to be an underwater restaurant, a concept created by four UCLA grads, with a marine show as a feature but it wasn't feasible. Instead the group decided to open a park. The park attracted over 400,000 visitors in its first year in operation.
Interesting SeaWorld Facts:
When the first SeaWorld opened, in San Diego, California, in 1964, it had a few sea lions and dolphins, and 6 attractions on 22 acres of land.
In 1973 SeaWorld Orlando opened after Disney in Orlando proved it was a successful location.
SeaWorld Ohio opened next, but it could only be open in warmer months.
SeaWorld Antonio, Texas opened in 1988, making three locations of SeaWorld that were open all year round.
SeaWorld in Abu Dhabi is planned for opening in 2022 on Yas Island, but it will be the first franchised location.
The main attraction at SeaWorld locations are its killer whales. They are kept in tanks that hold 5.8 million gallons of water.
The first killer whale in SeaWorld San Diego was named Shamu.
The killer whales at SeaWorld Santiago in 2016 included Amaya, Makani, Shouka, Keet, Kalia, Ikaika, Nakai, Orkid, Ulises, and Corky.
The killer whales at SeaWorld Orlando as of 2016 included Malia, Makaio, Nalani, Trua, Kayla, and Katina.
The killer whales at SeaWorld San Antonio as of 2016 included Kamea, Tuar, Sakari, Takara, and Kyuquot.
Many people protest the keeping of killer whales and dolphins in captivity. Accidents have occurred and both whales and people have been harmed and even killed.
Orca whales spend most of their time deep underwater, which protects them from sunburn. Because the whales at SeaWorld spend so much time close to the surface they get burned. The workers then cover the burned skin with black zinc oxide so that people can't see the burns and skin damage.
Some of the killer whales on display at SeaWorld locations were taken from the wild and forced to live in captivity.
Whales are often killed while hunters attempt to capture them for shows such as those used at SeaWorld.
Orca whales kept in captivity tend to live much shorter lives than those in the wild.
Many of the trainers at parks such as SeaWorld do not have training as marine biologists and are only there to rain the wildlife and put on a show.
SeaWorld was bought by Anheuser-Busch and later sold SeaWorld Ohio to Six Flags, Inc.
SeaWorld admitted in 2016 that it had been using employees as spies to find out what PETA was up to. PETA is an animal rights activists group that works to protect the rights of animals around the world. This practice of spying has now stopped.


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