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Sully Safely 'Landed' at SeaWorld
Pilot Whale is in Good Health and Getting Acclimated
SAN DIEGO (March 10, 2010) – While SeaWorld trainers and veterinarians are caring for Sully — the stranded pilot whale rescued in Curaçao and transferred to SeaWorld for care in early January — they’re also learning a great deal about a species that is not widely documented in scientific research. Early tests indicate that Sully could have a hearing deficit, which may account for his stranding or unwillingness and/or inability, to be re-introduced into the wild.
“When marine mammals strand alive, we scientists try to get as much information from them as possible, both to help with rehabilitation and also because opportunities are so rare,” says Dr. Ann Bowles, senior research scientist at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. “By studying Sully and working to help him cope with any deficits he may have, we will get information that can be used to help other stranded whales and dolphins in the future.”
Over the course of his first week at the marine-life park, Bowles collected recordings of Sully's vocal behavior. These measurements were made with a hydrophone, an underwater microphone, while Sully was engaged in a range of activities, such as feeding, getting rubdowns, and playing with his toys and trainers. Bowles made the recordings because little is known about pilot whale calling behavior and because vocalizations can be a useful tool for assessing animal health. For example, vocal behavior can provide clues to hearing abilities. Sully was producing some sounds (low-frequency pops, squeaks and grunts) but his repertoire, the range of calls he produced, was more limited than she expected. Although his repertoire could be further evidence of a hearing deficit, it could also be evidence that he is still recovering from the conditions that forced him to strand. Normal vocal development in pilot whales has never been measured. Sully’s behavior will have to be followed as he adapts to his new environment and begins to interact with other whales and dolphins at SeaWorld.
In addition to Bowles’ tests, a team from the Navy Marine Mammal Program conducted an Auditory Evoked Potential (AEP) assessment on Sully. This non-invasive method was developed to get quick assessments of hearing in unresponsive humans, such as babies, and animals. The U.S. Navy has pioneered methods for making rapid and sensitive AEP assessments of hearing in marine mammals found stranded or in zoological collections.
At first, his caretakers in Curaçao were reluctant to believe Sully had hearing deficits because he was able to find fish successfully in turbid water, followed boats in the open ocean, and interacted with his trainers without any obvious signs of difficulty. “Since no one really knew what to expect, the Navy team and I were concerned that something could have gone wrong with initial tests while he was still in Curaçao,” says Bowles. “Preliminary results, however, of the more recent measurements support the early report, but we won't really know the full story until the data are analyzed and written up, which will take several months.”
SeaWorld experts will continue to study Sully and learn as much as they can. In the meantime, he is in good health, is active and is eating and behaving normally. He weighs 1,035 pounds and measures nearly 11 feet. Sully eats about 35 pounds of herring and squid each day. He enjoys interacting with his trainers, playing with environmental enrichment devices (toys) and getting rubdowns. As part of his socialization and integration into the SeaWorld family of marine mammals, he now has four new pool mates: four male bottlenose dolphins. Sully and the boys are swimming together and getting to know each other. Eventually, Sully will meet the park’s two pilot whales.
Sully’s Story
Named after the famous airline pilot Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, Sully the pilot whale arrived to SeaWorld on Jan. 4, 2010 after being transported from Curaçao, a Caribbean island near Aruba, in a special transport unit aboard a chartered FedEx A300 Airbus cargo plane. Sully, who weighed nearly 1,000 pounds and measured approximately 11 feet long upon arrival at SeaWorld, has been cared for in a behind-the-scenes animal care pool at SeaWorld since then.
Sully’s story is one of courage, tenacity and the will to overcome extreme odds. The animal was found beached on Jan Tiel Bay in Curaçao in July of last year. Rescuers from the Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network (SCCN) were called in to investigate. Their initial assessment was that the pilot whale was suffering from severe starvation and dehydration and was not likely to survive. In the days to come, they tube fed Sully with a special formula until he was able to eat whole fish.
Once Sully was nourished and energetic, rescuers made several attempts to re-introduce him back out into the ocean and to wild populations of pilot whales. Each time rescuers took Sully out to sea, he followed the boat back, sometimes at speeds near 25 mph.
Sully continued to appear healthy and active, but each attempt to release him was unsuccessful. Because he is young (estimated to be between one and three years old) and showed no signs of being willing or able to re-integrate into the wild, experts determined that the best place for Sully would be in a zoological facility with other pilot whales. SeaWorld San Diego was deemed the best choice because it is one of the few places in the world to house pilot whales and has a team of experts who have cared for the species for more than two decades.
SeaWorld’s pilot whales
SeaWorld San Diego is home to two other pilot whales: Bubbles, a 3,000-pound, 47-year-old female; and Shadow, a 2,000-pound, 30-year-old female. They have performed, alongside bottlenose dolphins, for more than two decades at SeaWorld. Starting May 29, Bubbles and Shadow will star in SeaWorld’s new spectacular show, “Blue Horizons.”
About the species
Pilot whales are divided into two sub-species: short-finned and long-finned. Sully, along with Bubbles and Shadow, is a short-finned pilot whale. The species is found in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide. While their population is stable, these whales face some threats in their environment, including drive fisheries that target them for their meat, blubber and oil; and trawlers and long-line fisheries that incidentally take pilot whales in their nets.
Adult pilot whales on average weigh between 1,500 and 4,000 pounds. Males can grow as large at 6,000 and females can weigh as much as 3,000 pounds. They are a deep-diving, open-ocean species, so little is known about their behavior, vocalizations, or social lives. Their diet consists primarily of squid and fish and they can consume approximately five percent of their body weight daily. Like bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales use echolocation for foraging and navigation.
About SeaWorld
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment operates 10 parks across the U.S. including SeaWorld parks in San Diego, San Antonio and Orlando, Fla.; Busch Gardens parks in Tampa, Fla. and Williamsburg, Va.; Discovery Cove and Aquatica in Orlando; Sesame Place near Philadelphia, Pa.; and water parks Adventure Island in Tampa and Water Country USA in Williamsburg.
The 10 parks play host to 25 million guests each year and employ 26,000 people nationwide. To learn more, visit www.seaworldparksandentertainment.com or call toll-free (888) 800-5447. Additionally, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment created the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, a non-profit, private charitable foundation committed to supporting wildlife and habitat conservation, research, education and animal rescue programs worldwide. Learn more at www.swbg-conservationfund.org.
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