Sea World Whales Live As Long As Killer Whales In The Wild

The first community is that comprised of killer whales held in captivity at SeaWorld.

Perhaps more independent studies should be sought to shed light on what the life expectancy of killer whales is, both in captivity and in the wild.

The average life expectancy for SeaWorld’s orcas is 41.6 years, compared to 29 years for whales in the southern Pacific Northwest and 42.3 years for whales in the northern Pacific Northwest.

San Diego-based marine theme park SeaWorld has released a new scientific study that suggests that killer whales bred in captivity have the same life expectancy as those living in the wild.

Todd Robeck, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment’s vice president of theriogenology at, gave a statement saying that the study results unequivocally demonstrate that killer whales that live in captivity at SeaWorld have a very similar lifespan to that of killer whales living in the wild. And now a controversial new study has found that yes, they live just as long.

The findings of the SeaWorld-led study, however, were met with criticisms, especially from various animal conservation groups.

According to PETA, a different study that features in the Marine Mammal Science journal from April 2015, concludes that orcas held in captivity have only 11.8 years life expectancy.

It’s also worth mentioning that SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment has been frequently attacked by PETA as well as other animal-welfare groups in the past couple of years. They argue that the research was written by SeaWorld’s Robeck, two fellow employees of the marine park and Kevin Willis, who is the Minnesota Zoo’s biological programs vice president.

But the latest study by Robeck and Willis disputed the methodology used in the study touted by PETA. He went on to add that the study also offers invaluable information on the normal reproductive patterns of these animals. This is significantly less than SeaWorld’s average calf survival rate which ranges from 40 days to age 2 or 96.6 percent. For reparations, the company changed the CEO and announced at the time that the killer whales would benefit from larger, more spacious tanks fitted for them.