Mundo Marino - January 2025 Trip Summary

Mundo Marino Trip Summary – 9^th to 15^th January

Helio and I travelled from France and England to make the long travel to Argentina to visit Kshamenk at Mundo Marino. After learning about the captive orca industry 22.5 years ago, it was always my wish to visit every orca park in the world but I never knew whether I would make it to see Kshamenk or not. And so it is very surreal that Helio and I finally made this trip happen, after months of talking and planning it! We arrived into Buenos Aires late on Tuesday 7^th January and then took the 4 hour bus the following day to San Clemente del Tuyu.

From Thursday 9^th January to Wednesday 15^th January we visited Mundo Marino every day. Over those 7 days we saw Kshamenk in 22 shows, at 11am, 12pm, 3pm and 6:20pm. We also had the opportunity to view Kshamenk twice a day at the underwater viewing glass at 2pm and 4:30pm. So we developed a daily routine of seeing Kshamenk a possible 6 times a day, depending on how many shows were scheduled per day.

When we arrived to the park and waited for the 11am show to begin, Kshamenk would either be in the back left pool or in the show pool with Floppy the bottlenose dolphin. When in the back pool, Kshamenk would either float at the surface (I believe to watch for when the trainers would come out), or he would hang underwater. If Kshamenk was in the show pool, he would do a variety of behaviours, such as lapping, side swimming with his pec in the air, upside down swimming, or floating by the left or right gate to the back pools.

For the shows, Kshamenk would usually only be used for a maximum of 10 minutes and then he would be moved to the left back pool and then the 4 bottlenose dolphins (Clembo, Orion, Tifon and Shima) would perform in the rest of the show. For the 11am show he would be used in the first half of the show, and for the 12pm show he would be used in the second half. For the 3pm show he was used in the first half, and for the 6:20pm show it would vary whether he was used in the first or second half of the show. The shows also varied in the amount of times Kshamenk would be asked to breach or go on the slide out. Some other behaviours in the show that he might do included “singing”, pec waving, fluke waving and splashing the crowd. The trainers told us that Kshamenk was used for only half of the show as he is getting older.

We established a good friendship with Kshamenk’s trainers and so we got a few more extra viewing privileges than the public would. In one session we got to witness Kshamenk be presented with a variety of letters “Co, E, V, L” and he could choose what his enrichment session would be. We saw Kshamenk chose “V” which meant a rubdown session. We watched Lucas use a broom to scrub down Kshamenk. On other occasions we would just sit in the stadium and chat with the trainers, and Kshamenk would often be floating nearby. I think Kshamenk liked to see/be near us for the company. I didn’t observe Kshamenk and Floppy interact too often, apart from a few synchronized breaths and on one occasion Kshamenk and Floppy were in the back pool during the dolphin part of the show and Kshamenk was swimming with his penis out. However, the trainers told us that Kshamenk and Floppy had a close relationship.

When it came to the underwater sessions, Kshamenk would be moved from the show pool twice a day to go to the underwater pool that the other bottlenose dolphins normally occupy (Clementine, Nemo, Rebo, Donda). His time in the bigger pool would not be long maybe maximum 10 minutes, as the guests had their photograph taken with him that they paid for. Kshamenk would always pose at the glass with is mouth open, which is something that he chose to do and cannot pose in another way. It was very mesmerizing to see him at the underwater glass – to be able to see his full length, and particularly to be able to look into his eye. On one occasion I could hear Kshamenk vocalizing underwater. Very special. It was a shame to know that Kshamenk’s time in the underwater pool was short as it’s so much more spacious for him. However the trainers said that in winter he gets to spend more time in that pool, and they enjoy being able to see him swim fast. But one time at the glass without any guests around, Kshamenk did bang his rostrum quite hard on the glass. It made such a loud noise! Poor baby.

Overall I would say that Kshamenk was in very good condition. His teeth were great - nearly all of them there and intact, though maybe one or two missing. In the show it was explained that because of his age Kshamenk was fed fish that had been processed/ground down. The trainers would make the ground up fish into balls to feed Kshamenk. Though I did see Kshamenk eat a few whole fish. Other physical features that looked good were his nice beautiful flukes, and overall his size and weight looked good too (as the last few years he had lost weight). He was just one big beautiful whale, really. The obvious sad things are that his main pool is too small and that he doesn’t have any other orca companionship. But overall I think he is doing well. The trainers love him a lot and say that he is a nice, kind and gentle whale and doesn’t have “bad days” often. They will always respect him, and they said if he doesn’t want to do anything then they just have to cancel the show and be honest to the public about it. So I think he is a well looked after whale. I am so pleased that I finally got to meet him.