TAMING THE KILLER WHALE

[Music] this is a killer whale for years it's been considered one of the deadliest and most vicious hunters in the sea is it really a vicious killer today discovery investigates some of the legends and explore some of the new facts that scientists are learning about this rare animal we're going to see how they're taming the killer whale [Music] discovery 69 the award-winning program for young people with bill owen and virginia gibson hi and welcome to discovery today we're looking at one of the most unusual creatures in the sea one with a very dangerous reputation the killer whale [Music] it's highly intelligent with a complex language of sounds that it produces for communication and navigation it's one of the few marine mammals that's carnivorous in the ocean it'll devour seals porpoises birds fish and even other whales it's equipped with huge jaws and teeth the teeth are curved inward in interlocking rows for grasping and tearing not for chewing there are over 40 teeth some almost four inches long [Music] but in captivity the killer whale seems to behave in a completely different manner it doesn't attack seals or porpoises and it not only tolerates human beings but it seems to enjoy playing with people swimming with them in the tank and even letting them ride on its back one that we're looking at today was brought here to abc's marine world near san francisco only last year she's the largest killer whale in captivity 22 feet long and she weighs four tons eight thousand pounds her name is keanu an indian name meaning powerful woman and she eats more than 150 pounds of fish every day the trainers think that killer whales may be even smarter than porpoises they seem to be able to respond to training much faster and they're certainly curious about people as you can see keanu is between 10 and 12 years old but no one knows exactly because there's really no accurate way of determining a killer whale's age in fact many things are still unknown about this species because very few people have had a chance to observe and study them at close range [Music] until a few years ago there were no killer whales in captivity anywhere and now almost everything that's been observed so far seems to indicate that they may not deserve their vicious reputation even the name may be wrong the old time sailors referred to them as whale killers rather than killer whales because they used to attack harpoon whales actually they look more like big porpoises than whales they're very closely related both porpoises and whales are part of the group which scientists call cetaceans the porpoise is one of the smallest members of the whale family averaging about 10 feet long the largest are the blue whales that can grow to be over a hundred feet long the killer whale is certainly one of the most strikingly colored members of the family its back and head are black with a white belly and two white spots in back of its eyes the high dorsal fin on its back can be as tall as six feet in adult males those big front flippers and its powerful tail make it one of the fastest swimmers of all whales it can reach speeds of over 40 miles per hour the parts of the whale's body are ideally designed for life in the ocean with its smooth skin flexible skeleton and streamlined shape it can slip easily through the water using the powerful muscles in its tail for propulsion the big tail flukes act like a giant propeller because it has to continually dive and come up for air a whale's tail is horizontal making it easier to move up and down the whale doesn't have any nostrils instead it breathes through a blow hole on top of its head just before a whale dives it takes in all the air it'll need through the blow hole during the dive that air is compressed and heated inside the whale's body when the whale comes back up to the surface and blows out this warm air it condenses into vapor that we can see the same as your own warm breath does on a cold day some of the larger whales send up a tall spout when they blow which is how the old whaling fleets used to spot them far out at sea [Music] everything about whales is enormous even their babies are large well babies are called calves and the killer whale's calf is usually from five to seven feet long when it's born and weighs over 200 pounds whales also grow at a rapid rate in their first year they can grow to be 10 or 15 feet in length a full-grown male killer whale can measure as much as 30 feet and weigh over 20 000 pounds in the open sea they hunt in groups called pods with anywhere from 12 to 50 killer whales in a pond they'll attack any other species of whale even the giant blue whales that are a hundred feet long and weigh 300 000 pounds sometimes killer whales will circle around a group of other whales closing in gradually but the fact that they're extremely skillful hunters doesn't mean that they are vicious or bloodthirsty killers they're following natural instincts of animal behavior although they are carnivorous there's no record anywhere of a killer whale ever having actually killed a human being in fact divers and swimmers along the california coast have encountered killer whales in the water on several occasions although the whales could easily have attacked the people the only behavior they displayed was curiosity they came in for a close look at the humans then swam away [Music] this curiosity toward human beings has enabled the killer whales to be taught to do a variety of things we'll see how her trainer teaches keanu to perform and we'll do that in just a minute [Music] teaching a whale to perform might seem like a difficult job but the killer whale seems to learn very quickly [Music] how does she first understand what they want her to do within the first few days after the whale arrived her trainer her breed began to get her accustomed to the idea of taking a fish right from his hand as soon as keanu began to accept the fish it was used as a reward for any action he wanted her to take for instance the first time she has shown a ball on the end of a stick she may not know what to do with it but as soon as she bumps it with her nose she is given a fish reward and she learns very quickly after that then her trainer holds the stick a little higher each time forcing keanu to leap farther and farther out of the water so [Music] whenever she does something right and gets a fish the trainer will blow a whistle the whistle serves two purposes it helps the whale associate the sound with the food reward and later when she learns more complicated tricks which are done farther away in the pool the trainer can stand at the edge of the tank blow the whistle to let her know she's done it properly and keanu will immediately come over to him to get her fish keanu has also been taught to turn over on her back and splash her tail she now does that to music as herb claps his hands in rhythm [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] because keanu has come to know and trust her trainer she even allows him to put his head right into her mouth and touch her tongue she's now the star performer here at marine world's aqua circus every day thousands of people watch her go through her program [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] to keep her in top condition a veterinarian gives keanu a complete physical checkup every month we'll see how a doctor goes about examining a whale in just a minute [Applause] the care and feeding of keanu is a full-time job for many people [Music] a special tank was built for keanu at marine world water from san francisco bay is pumped into the system and it's filtered before it enters the tank chemicals are also added to the water which is kept at a temperature range the same as the ocean water kiana was used to in her natural habitat every four hours the water in keanu's tank is checked to make sure the amount of chlorine is correct [Music] to satisfy the giant appetite of a killer whale over a hundred pounds of fish usually mackerel must be prepared each day so this daily diet is supplemented by 40 giant size multiple vitamin capsules stuffed into the fish she is fed [Music] so [Applause] there are many things that have to be done in order to keep a killer whale healthy and content in captivity one of the most interesting things that most people never get to see is how the doctor goes about examining this 22 foot long 8 000 pound patient the first thing is to let most of the water out of keanu's tank it takes about six hours to lower it to about two or three feet deep just enough water to keep the whale moist it's lowered slowly so as not to disturb the whale in order to keep keanu from being grounded on her side as the water recedes she must be constantly prodded into an upright position [Music] when the water has reached its low level the veterinarian assisted by keanu's trainer prepares to examine her this is dr lanny cornell from los angeles [Music] [Applause] as soon as the water is down to about two or three feet or waist level or below just a little below waist level i usually climb right into the tank with her and then this way she begins to get accustomed to me before i even begin the [Music] examination [Applause] we get into the tank and usually the first thing we do as a rule is to take our blood sample and the reason we do this first is because we want to take the blood sample from her when she's in her least excited state then when we take the blood sample from the tail in the animal and the reason is because there's a very available blood vessel there in the tail whereas in other areas of the animal it's a little more difficult to find a blood vessel to take blood from she is of course a little bit ticklish back there around her flukes uh her tail flukes and the reason she is ticklish or touchy is because she's never been handled and she doesn't she doesn't particularly care for the feel and of someone touching her and especially a needle going through her skin and she's uh and it does tickle her and she tries to move away from it so we have to have someone help her help hold her tail up out of the water just so we keep our blood out of the water as i walk around the animal i keep my hands on her constantly i touch her skin and feel it to see that it feels normal to me and that the that a certain amount of it comes off and colors my hands uh with her with the black color of her skin and these are these are little tiny cells sloughing off normally just as our skin and human sloughs off as you would say uh sunburn peels except that it's not really a sunburn it's just it's normal for her to peel some skin [Applause] [Music] off when we when we look at the blowhole around this whole entire entire area i'm looking actually right into her respiratory tract just as you would look into someone's nose and look into the respiratory tract the reason that we do this is because this tells us a great deal about what's going on inside of her lungs and in the trachea which is the windpipe leading to her lungs we can see whether or not there's a normal discharge or whether there's whether she has a what you might call a runny nose or things of this nature [Music] it also tells me by the by the odor of her breath that is the smell of her breath i can tell whether or not she's metabolizing or or using her food in a normal manner and whether or not she's uh being underfed or overfed uh simply by the smell of her breath we can use the stethoscope by placing it against her chest and listening through there we through the stethoscope we can hear the air rushing in and out of her lungs this tells us whether or not the lungs are performing as they should and in addition we of course can hear her heartbeat also and we listen for the rate of heartbeat which is normal for her for the variation in that rate that is the change in the rate which tells me that it's function that all the reflexes that lead from their heart and lungs are functioning normally with the examination completed the water is let back into the tank it takes less time to fill it than to lower it only 45 minutes as soon as the water starts coming in keanu begins swimming around again getting ready for her next performance [Applause] which means the killer whale's playful behavior and its curiosity about human beings seem to contradict all the legends of its being a savage killer in time to come as we learn more about the remarkable abilities of this animal it'll be able to do more than just perform for us experiments are already underway to find out whether killer whales can help in undersea communication and transportation perhaps working in partnership with human aquanauts in the future but killer whale just might turn out to be man's largest and friendliest companion underwater we'll be back in just a minute we hope you've enjoyed today's program on taming the killer whale if you'd like to find out more about whales then ask your librarian for any of these books killer whale by joseph j cook and william l wissner the great whales by herbert s zim and this book the whale in fact an infection by robert k and martha l moffat be sure to be with us next week for another exciting adventure as discovery continues to discover the world bye bye bye the discovery production unit's domestic transportation and promotional consideration provided by united airlines [Music] this has been a jules power production in association with abc news