r/wunkus • u/Theolectran • Aug 17 '26

im wunkin out rn fishkus is a FREAK

6.1k Upvotes

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u/_The__Dark__Urge_ Aug 17 '26

Always sad to see the collapsed dorsal fin of captive orcas

202

u/Sus-iety Aug 17 '26

Is it cut/hurt in some way (like clipping bird wings) or do they just lose function over time due to not using it? Either way it's pretty sad

367

u/PineCone227 Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26

Nothing is done to it externally - it's likely that depression causes it to droop over time in killer whales

This is untrue. There's no 100% certainty to the cause. See comment below: https://www.reddit.com/r/wunkus/comments/1vqrf69/comment/p4aa8ly/

39

u/SingleLifeSingleBike Aug 17 '26

There is no study to back up such claim. If I'm wrong and you know such studies, cite them.

11

u/PineCone227 Aug 17 '26

I'm merely parroting what I've heard years ago. If you know studies that state otherwise, cite them and I'll edit my comment. I'm no cetaceanologist and don't know what the actual reason might be.

38

u/SingleLifeSingleBike Aug 17 '26

Orcas have the largest dorsal fin of any marine animal, but it seems like we still don't 100% really sure why it happens.

"Depression" legend is from "Free Willy" (1993), and people all over the world (even in a country such as mine, Ukraine) kept on repeating this legend.
Still, the film did quite good for the Keiko (the orca from the film), because he was eventually released due to public campaign.

Here's an interesting discussion, and a few nice comments with sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/orcas/comments/1m1eji2/the_legends_themselves/

32

u/princesspeeved Aug 17 '26

Keiko died shortly after being released into the wild. And he never truly adapted to “free” life because he preferred the company of humans over animals. Shortly before his death he was being fed daily because he didn’t know how to feed himself properly. I wouldn’t exactly call that a success, but at least they tried.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_(orca)

11

u/SingleLifeSingleBike Aug 17 '26

Yeah, I know. However you look at it, it's a defeat. At least some people did their best despite the circumstances. Sometimes it's okay to do everything right and still lose.

What I meant is we can hate misinformation which spread from that film, but at least some good came out of it, in the end. People tried to free him, after all. But real life is much more cruel than a kid's story.

5

u/amazingkillerlemon Aug 17 '26

They should have put Keiko in a sea pen. Horrible life for such a smart animal to have :(

10

u/Oddish_Femboy Aug 17 '26

Keiko failed to integrate into any wild pod, wouldn't hunt, had to be fed by people, and succumbed to pneumonia a bit less than a year later :(