Loro Parque

Loro Parque is a marine park in Tenerife, Spain, and is the largest tourist attraction in the country.

Keto, Tekoa, and Adan are all owned by the SeaWorld Corporation and come from long lines of SeaWorld whales. Morgan is owned by a separate entity due to the controversy surrounding Morgan's pregnancy and her calf, Ula's birth.

Loro Parque has a poor reputation in the marine park industry. Their pools, in the past, have been coated with a type of paint which peels and causes intestinal illnesses for the whales when ingested.

The original four whales to be moved to the park were Kohaha, Keto, Skyla, and Tekoa. With no clear matriarch, as both Kohana and Skyla were quite young at the time, the social structure of the park fell into chaos. With no force to keep them in check, Keto and Tekoa were very sexually frustrated and acted accordingly. At one point, every whale at the park except for Kohana was on special watch.

Morgan was moved to the park after being rescued in the Netherlands in 2012. She later got pregnant by Keto and gave birth to Ula in 2018.

Loro Parque has also purposefully produced two inbred calves between Kohana and Keto, Adan and Victoria (d. 2013). Kohana rejected both of them from birth, and they were raised by employees.

Kohana came out on top as the shaky matriarch of the park before her death in 2022. Loro Parque is very hesitant to issue a full breeding ban, but because their whales are owned by SeaWorld, it's not clear what the legal line is. They have stopped waterworks style shows. Any claim that Loro Parque is not affiliated with SeaWorld is false and inaccurate.

Three orcas have died at Loro Parque in an eighteen month span between March 2021 and September 2022: Skyla, Ula, and Kohana.

Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Spain

Morgan, left, one of Loro Parque's orcas and subject of debate over her housing and ability to be released. Photo: @ketoflukes, Noah Helgu on Instagram.

Keto

Statistics

Captive born: June 17th, 1995

Mother: Kalina (d)

Father: Kotar (d)

Sex: Male

Age: 27

Weight: 8,600 lbs, 3,900 kilos

Length: 20.5 ft, 6.2 m

Breed: 75% Icelandic, 25% Southern Resident

Full Siblings: Keet

Maternal Siblings: Skyla (d) , Tuar

Paternal Siblings: Takara

Calves: Adan, Victoria (d), and Ula (d)

About Keto

Keto is most known for the killing of his trainer, Alexis Martinez, in 2009, which I will discuss in the following section and in the Humans Killed by Orcas page. Keto is the largest whale in Loro Parque, and one of the four original transfers to the park, along with his sister Skyla, Tekoa, and Kohana. Keto is related to both Skyla and Kohana, making some wonder whether Loro Parque was planning on creating inbred calves, which they have. Keto's half sister Takara is Kohana's mother, making him her uncle, and making their two calves, Adan and Victoria, 6.25% inbred. Victoria died when she was ten months old in 2013. Keto also fathered a calf with Morgan in 2018, Ula, who later died in 2021.

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Five different times before his fatal attack, Keto swam towards trainers open mouthed, sometimes making contact, and once snapping at a trainer. Keto also showed signs of being sexually frustrated. Tragically, on Christmas Eve in 2009, Keto fatally injured his trainer, Alexis Martinez. Experts think that Keto rammed the trainer's body on the bottom of the pool with such force that his ribcage collapsed and his internal organs were perforated. Once he was removed from the water, those present described blood coming out of Martinez's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It was initially reported by Loro Parque that Martinez had drowned, which clearly does not convey all of the facts. Go to my "Bibliography & Sources" page to read more of the report, eyewitness accounts, and Martinez's journal entries. Go to the Humans Killed by Orcas page to read more about the details of Martinez's tragic death.

Tekoa

Statistics

Captive born: November 8th, 2000

Mother: Taima (d)

Father: Tilikum (d)

Sex: Male

Age: 22

Weight: 6,000 lbs, 2,721 kilos

Length: 19 ft, 5.7 m

Breed: 75% Icelandic, 25% Bigg's Transient

Full Siblings: Malia and Sumar (d)

Paternal Siblings: Nyar (d), Unna (d), Kohana (d), Skyla, Sakari, Kyuquot, Taku (d), Tuar, Nakai (d), Ikaika, and Makaio

About Tekoa

Tekoa is his mother Taima's second calf. Taima had difficulties with motherhood when Tekoa was born, and so he was at least partially raised by Kalina and Katina. During his time in SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Antonio, Tekoa was close with his brother Tuar. Tekoa, like all the whales in Loro Parque initially, had a difficult time adapting to the rocky social situation.

Tekoa's behavior is some of the most violent I've ever researched that didn't result in trainer death. I certainly think he is a risk to those around him. However, in many facets, his behavior makes a lot of sense. Tekoa was rejected by his mother, Taima, when he was born, and so he was raised by others. Still, when he was just six years old, he was transferred away from those he knew to a new park with new whales. With neither Skyla or Kohana as a defined matriarch, and paired with the also-aggressive Keto, is it really any wonder that Tekoa has broken trainers' arms and very nearly killed people?

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

In 2007, during his first year in Loro Parque, Tekoa grabbed a female trainer and pulled her under the water, and then rammed her, causing her right lung to partially collapse and her right arm to break. The trainer was hospitalized and survived, but he easily could have killed her. Tekoa was placed on special watch after the incident.

Morgan

Statistics

Rescued: June 23rd, 2010

Sex: Female

Age: 15

Weight: 6,170 lbs, 2,798 kilos

Length: 17 ft, 5.1 m

Breed: 100% Norwegian

Calves: Ula (d)

About Morgan

Morgan was discovered as an emaciated infant in 2010, in the Netherlands, thousands of miles from her native home of Norway, and without her mother. She was rescued by Dutch fishermen and was sent to Dolfinarium Harderwijk, where she lived for a year and a half. Her tank and the facility as a whole was unsuitable for such a large animal. Morgan was longer than the tank was deep. Many scientists called for her rehabilitation and eventual release to a sea sanctuary somewhere in the European Union. However, an EU court ruled her unsuitable for release because the whale is at least partially deaf, and Morgan was in need of higher quality housing where she could spend the rest of her life.

It's worth mentioning that Morgan is worth between 10 and 20 million USD, more than Keto, Kohana, and Tekoa combined, more than any other killer whale in the world, because of her genetic diversity brought into the Western breeding pool. Though Loro Parque claims to have ended their breeding program, Morgan and her genes are worth an exceptional amount of money. This may have played a part in her remaining in captivity rather than be rehabilitated.

She arrived in Loro Parque in 2011. Morgan became pregnant with her calf, Ula, in 2018, after SeaWorld, who owned her at the time, said that they had discontinued their breeding program. This caused issues, and Morgan and Ula were sold to a separate entity, although that changed their lives little. Morgan also gave birth when she was just 11 years old, young for a female orca. Ula's father was not known until after her birth, and with genetic testing, it was revealed to be Keto, not Tekoa.

Ula and Morgan were separated soon after birth for no medically necessary reason. Morgan maintained strong maternal instincts, and circa April 25th, 2021, the two were separated again because Ula became ill. Ula is was cared for in the medical pool while Morgan remained in the main facility. This practice has always struck me as strange. I don't totally understand their separation. It's not as if Ula was contagious, and one would think that it would reduce stress on both the animals to be together.

Ula later died at two years of age on August 9th, 2021, following her long, aforementioned battle with gastric disease. Morgan seemed to be in low spirits for several weeks after, and updates on Morgan's emotional/mental condition have not been released by the park.

Morgan means 'ocean'.

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Morgan has never been involved in any documented instances of violence or questionable behavior towards trainers.

Adan

Statistics

Captive born: October 13th, 2010

Mother: Kohana (d)

Father: Keto

Sex: Male

Age: 12

Weight: 2,950 lbs, 1,338 kilos

Length: 14.1 ft, 4.2 m

Breed: 87.5% Icelandic, 12.5% Southern Resident

Full Siblings: Victoria (d)

Paternal Siblings: Ula (d)

About Adan

Adan was the first orca to be born in Loro Parque, and all of Spain. He is also 6.25% inbred due to the familial relations of Keto and Kohana, his parents. Kohana rejected Adan from a young age, meaning that he was raised by trainers, who still enter the water with him today, even though waterwork-style shows have ended due to whale violence and protection of trainers and their safety. Adan spent a lot of his time with his little sister, Victoria, before she passed away in 2013.

Adan is the Spanish form of Adam.

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Adan has never been involved in any documented incidences of violence towards trainers.