Inbred Cetaceans

Inbred cetaceans are a rare type of cetaceans that can almost never be seen in captivity or the wild. Inbred cetaceans are caused by two related family members mate. Most of the time, it is (likely) that these whales do not know they are related.

## Information

Inbred cetaceans can cause family trees to mix up weirdly in a confusing way. This is seen in Nalani, as her mother is Katina and sire/father is Taku. However, Taku is Katina's firstborn son, meaning she is 25% inbred, and can be seen as a niece or half sister. This same thing happens with any other inbred cetaceans calves, or when the newest generation of cetaceans have intertwining parents who may have had other calves. The higher cetaceans have an inbred rate, the higher they are at not being a live birth.

Generally(in the wild), inbred cetaceans are born on accident, though sometimes on purpose. Seen more often in orcas, there are those instances that male orcas will purposely stay with their pod for the benefit of it, but this increases the risk of inbreeding. For example, a male can accidentally or purposely mate with his mother if he stays with the pod, or demonstrate to younger male orcas how to mate on their own. Calves are born if the mature male doesn’t leave, or other males in the pod die or leave. This increases the risk of inbreeding as well as the son would be prompted to breed with his mother or other adult females in the pod to keep having calves.

You may ask, why would a young male stay with the pod when mature? They do this for benefits such as hunting, and not having the stress of finding a new pod. Research conducted by the North Gulf Oceanic Society and Center for Whale Research shows that in the resident killer population, only a few orcas are left breeding, and inbreeding is harming the population and the limited number of breeding whales harms the effective size of the population, and also harms the survival of the individual orcas of the Southern Resident population.

As well as that, it is also not known if male cetaceans are aware of which calves they have sired. This is where a majority of inbred cetaceans are a result of. Schooner is the result of his mother, Clipper, having a calf with her father, Lester. In this case, it is likely not known that, to the cetaceans, Lester's daughter is Clipper. This occurs throughout many parks, especially facilites which only have one mature male, in which inbreeding is very common.

In other types of cetaceans, such as the vaquita, inbreeding does not affect their population.

In the end, inbred cetaceans can be a threat to cetacean populations in the wild, and if continued, could lead to the extinction of populations and types.

## Trivia

1. There are only 6 known inbred orcas to ever be born in captivity.
2. 3 inbred orcas are alive in captivity at the moment.

## Timeline

### 2004

July - Neocia, a killer whale, gives birth to a miscarriage at MarineLand Ontario. The sire is Kandu VII, Neocia's father.

### 2006

Late April - Unna, a killer whale, gives birth to a miscarriage or stillbirth at SeaWorld San Antonio. The father is Keet, Unna's nephew(Keet's grandmother, Katina, is Unna's mother).

18th of September - Katina, a killer whale, gives birth to Nalani at SeaWorld Orlando. The sire is Taku, Katina's firstborn son.

### 2010

13th of October - Kohana, a killer whale, gives birth to Adán at Loro Parque. The sire is Keto, Kohana's uncle(her grandfather, Kotar, is Keto's father).

### 2012

3rd of August - Kohana, a killer whale, gives birth to her second inbred calf, Victoria, at Loro Parque. The sire is Keto, Kohana's uncle(her grandfather, Kotar, is Keto's father).

### 2013

16th of June - Victoria dies at Loro Parque.

20th of November - Wikie, a killer whale, gives birth to Keijo at Marineland Antibes. The sire is Valentin, Wikie's half brother(Kim II is the father of both).

## Cetaceans

A total of *placeholder* confirmed births were a result of inbreeding.

### MLC-OO-U0401

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: July of 2004 (Miscarriage)
* Gender: Unknown
* Location of Birth: MarineLand Ontario
* Mother: Neocia\*
* Father: Kandu VII\*
* Reasons: Neocia's father is Kandu VII.
* Neocia's calf is up to 25% inbred.

### SWT-OO-U0601

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: Late April, 2006 (Stillborn)
* Gender: Female
* Location of Birth: SeaWorld San Antonio
* Mother: Unna\*
* Father: Keet
* Reasons: Keet's grandmother, Katina, is Unna's mother.
* Unna's Calf is up to 12.5% inbred.

### Nalani

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: 18th of September, 2006
* Gender: Female
* Location of Birth: SeaWorld Orlando
* Mother: Katina
* Father: Taku\*
* Reasons: Taku's mother is Katina.
* Nalani is up to 25% inbred.

### Schooner

* Type: Bottlenose Dolphin
* Date of Birth: 19th of March, 2007
* Gender: Male
* Location of Birth: Discovery Cove
* Mother: Clipper
* Father: Lester
* Reason: Clipper's father is Lester.
* Schooner is up to 25% inbred.

### Adán

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: 13th of October, 2010
* Gender: Male
* Location of Birth: Loro Parque
* Mother: Kohana\*
* Father: Keto
* Reason: Kohana's grandfather, Kotar, is Keto's father.
* Adán is up to 12.5% inbred.

### Victoria

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: 3rd of August, 2012
* Date of Death: 16th of June, 2013
* Gender: Female
* Location of Birth: Loro Parque
* Mother: Kohana\*
* Father: Keto
* Reason: Kohana's grandfather, Kotar, is Keto's father.
* Victoria is up to 12.5% inbred.
* Second inbred calf for both parents.

### Keijo

* Type: Killer Whale
* Date of Birth: 20th of November, 2013
* Gender: Male
* Location of Birth: Marineland Antibes
* Mother: Wikie
* Father: Valentin\*
* Reason: Kim II is the father of both parents.
* Keijo is up to 12.5% inbred.

## References/Sources

1. ↑ "Endangered Vaquita Porpoise Not Doomed to Extinction by Inbreeding Depression"