orcinus-ocean:I was going to make an ID chart of Chappy, one of Kamogawa Sea World’s first two
orcinus-ocean:I was going to make an ID chart of Chappy, one of Kamogawa Sea World’s first two orcas.That’s when I noticed - wut? There is only one photo showing Chappy’s belly properly, and in it, he clearly appears to be a she.I gathered a few photos of killer whale genital areas above, top ones are female, bottom ones are male.The only other photo I can find of Chappy’s belly is this:Nothing to go on. But the first one seems clear.Now killer whales have been misidentified before (Skana started out as Walter, Finna and Moby Doll were thought to be females), but there is no way, I think, that Kamogawa SeaWorld didn’t know what Chappy was, after 3½ years of keeping him, and especially after his death.So are databases wrong, or does he just LOOK like a female, like no other male I’ve seen before?The photo could also be a misidentification by Orcahome, but KSW only had two Southern resident whales and then all Icelandic, and the whale in the photo definitely looks Pacific resident. I have been ratified! -- source link
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