#kamogawa sea world

[endkillerwhalecaptivity]

The killer whale tanks at Kobe Suma Sea World, Japan are nearing completion, ready for the parks opening early in the new year. Fish and sharks are already being moved in.

It will be stocked with a mix of whales from Kamogawa Sea World and Marineland France. Exactly which whales isn't yet known.

[x] [x]

#killer whales #orca #japan #kobe suma seaworld #blackfish

[piratekane]

reading wrap-up

I didn't do a Reading Wrap-Up(TM) in February so maybe I'll do two months now. Here's the stuff I read between February 1 - March 31 and my brief and unsolicited feelings on them.

Summary: The queer was strong these two months. But like my brother days, squinting off into the distance: "Could be, hmmm. More."

February: A big book month. I had a vacation this month and read A Lot. I don't remember the days, just the page counts. Almost all my books were bangers this month though!

Top mentions in no particular order:

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi - umm, impeccable. A 5 star read. This book was masterful. The magic was clever and if you were doing some close reading, there was a special reward for you. There's a neat plot twist at the end I didn't see coming but just enhanced the story even further when I went back to read a little. Good character work, good pacing. My chief complaint: this is a trilogy series and it just came out. How will I wait?! 5/5 stars

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai (translated by Jesse Kirkwood) - this was an adorable story of a father and daughter detective agency that hunts for food. You tell them your favorite meal, what you remember is in it, the person who made it for you, and they hunt down the ingredients and make your dish for you, replicating it as best as they can. Each patron had emotional reasons for hunting down their favorite meals and it was all heartwarming. The food sounded delicious. This was such a great and cute read.

The Burning Kingdoms books by Tasha Suri (The Jasmine Throne and The Oleander Sword)- how did I not read this sooner?! Why did it take me so long?! Why did I read all 1000+ pages in two days? It was worth it. Truly. I am desperate for the third book because I need to know how this goes for Priya and Malini especially after- Well, never mind. After that. Please let it be November already. 5/5 stars

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake - again, here I am late to the party. But what a party. I fell in love with Astrid in Delilah Green Doesn't Care and was so excited to see her story continue. Astrid, you disaster, I am so glad you got your happy ending with a soft butch who is good with her hands. After that fucking man, you deserve the world. And you're so disgustingly in love. Love that for you, truly. Keep it up, girl. 4/5 stars

Queer rating: good. 13 out of 15 books were sapphic. Go me.

March: A small book month. I was so emotionally tapped this month that I spent a lot of nights doom-scrolling and making sure my dog was breathing instead of reading. April will be better!

Top mentions in no particular order:

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood - this was just some great mythology stuff. I was so deep into this story that I looked up, realized 90% of the book had flown by, and I wasn't sure how the hell Underwood was going to wrap it up. But she did! And it was such a great ending! I mean, I was sad and elated and I think that's how you're supposed to leave a book when you love the characters and their journey is earned and realistic. It was also not too myth heavy, which I liked. Pesky curses, though. They'll fuck you right up. 4.5/5

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner - I love a good romcom to break up the heavy stuff. And I love adversaries-to-lovers. And I love watching soccer. So basically this was a great book to scratch those itches. Much smuttier than I thought it was going to be and I had to put it down once to be like, well they certainly did that, but overall I had a fun time reading this and my wife bought me Mistakes Were Made by Wilsner for another brain cleanser (maybe. I've heard *things*). 4/5

Queer rating: "Could be, hmmm. More." 2 out 7 books. Come on, self.

#a pirate reads #i read a lot in february and half of that in march so april should be somewhere in between and i'll be satisfied #i did just get a ton of books in the mail courtesy of my wife and that is exciting #trying to stick to queer works but some of them just sound too good to pass up #back to the water outlaws now thank you

[is-the-whale-video-cute]

Could you elaborate more on orca-human encounters that were NOT peaceful? I am just autistic and want to hear about my favorite animals. Have there been cases of orcas hunting humans as prey? Or are most altercations orcas just being curious and accidentally harming the people? Ty!!

In the wild, killer whale attacks are rare, but they have happened. There are a few reports of people being bumped or lunged at (x), but the only credible report of a person being seriously injured by a wild killer whale is the case of Hans Kretschmer, who was bitten on the leg by an orca while surfing in 1972. According to Kretschmer, there were seals nearby while he was surfing, and it’s possible that the whale attacked him by mistake while hunting. The whale then let go, and Kretschmer was able to get to shore. His leg was seriously wounded, requiring 100 stitches. (x)

In captivity, there have been more killer whale attacks, including three confirmed and four possible human fatalities (x x x x) (the exact cause of one of the deaths is unclear, as there were no witnesses to it). It is believed that these attacks happened because there was simply more orca-person interaction, and attacks were therefore more likely. Additionally, orcas who were not used to people being in the water with them may have seen people in the water as novel stimuli, causing the attacks. In addition to orca attacks resulting in death, there have been several that have led to serious injury.

Currently, the only facility where trainers swim with their orcas is Kamogawa Sea World (no affiliation to the American SeaWorld) in Japan. The majority of facilities that still had trainers in the water with their whales stopped the practice after the death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. Killer whales are large, powerful, unpredictable wild animals, and even play behavior can result in serious injury. Personally, I believe people should not be intentionally swimming with them, for the safety of both whales and people. 

Please beware that some of the links may contain upsetting descriptions of violence.

#asks #tw death

[hinachimathfan]

Higuchi Hina Blog Update 2022.05.07 ฉันจะเป็นอิสระอีกครั้งเมื่อตัวของฉันเปียกปอน

ชื่อของบล็อกก็คือเนื้อเพลง「My rule」！ เป็นหนึ่งเพลงที่แล่นเข้ามาในหัวของฉันเวลาฝนตก。 . . คมบังวะ＊ ก่อนอื่น…วันนี้ เวลา 15:00 น.(ไทย)、ทาง ABEMA จะออกอากาศ「Nogizaka46 10th YEAR BIRTHDAY LIVE pre-special program『Nogizaka 4.6 Hour TV』Live」ล่ะค่ะ！！ .　 ฉันสงสัยว่ามันจะเริ่มต้นในขณะที่บล็อกนี้อัปเดตรึเปล่านะ(o^^o) โปรดติดตามด้วยนะคะ！ https://abe.ma/3xVT6Do .　 .　 .　 แล้วก็、1st Photobook ของฉัน「Koibito no Youni」 ฉันมีความสุขมากที่ได้รับการตอบรับจากผู้คนมากมาย。

เพื่อเป็นหลักฐานของการทำงานหนักมาตลอด 10 ปีของฉัน ขอบคุณทุกคนที่อยู่รอบตัวฉัน、และทุกคนที่คอยสนับสนุนฉัน。 ขอบพระคุณมากจริงๆค่ะ。 ฉันมีความสุขมากค่ะ。 .　 ฉันหวังว่าหนังสือเล่มนี้จะนำพาไปสู่ความสุขของใครบางคนในอนาคต。 . ทาง Instagram และ Twitter Official ได้ลงรูป Off Shot เอาไว้มากมาย！ มีเมมเบอร์ของเราอยู่ในวิดีโอด้วยเช่นกัน♡ .　 Instagram @higuchihina_1st_ph .　 Twitter higuchihina_1st .　 โปรดติดตามด้วยนะคะ(o^^o) .　 .　 .　 .　 แจ้งให้ทราบค่ะ＊

○1st Photobook「Koibito no Youni」วางจำหน่ายแล้ว！

○ Official YouTube Channel「Nogizaka Haishinchuu」　 วิดีโอการเดินทางสู่ Kamogawa Sea World ได้รับการเผยแพร่แล้ว！ ทริปแห่งความทรงจำครั้งสุดท้ายของคีจัง！！

คีจังเป็นคนถ่ายรูปนี้ไว้ ^ ^

○ ทุกวันอังคารเวลา 22:00 น.(ไทย)〜 ทางช่อง TOKOYO MX 「Kotoge Eiji no Nante “BI”DA！」

○ ทุกวันอังคารเวลา 23:30 น.(ไทย)〜 ทาง MBS Radio 「Imadoki Duff Duff 90 Minutes」

○ วันอังคารที่ 31 พฤษภาคมเวลา 22:30 น.(ไทย)〜 ทาง TV Tokyo ละครเรื่องใหม่「Nanika Okashii」 รับชมได้ทุกตอนทาง Paravi！ และ YouTube TV Tokyo Drama Channel ก็ออกอากาศล่วงหน้า 3 ตอนแรกด้วย！！

○ วางจำหน่ายวันอังคารที่ 10 พฤษภาคมนี้ 「N46 N46MODE vol.2」

Off Shot กับอายาเนะ♡ . . ใกล้จะถึง「10th YEAR BIRTHDAY LIVE」ที่ Nissan Stadium แล้ว！！ .　 ทุกท่านดูแลตัวเองกันด้วยนะคะ… โปรดตั้งตารอกันได้เลยค่ะ〜！ .　 .　 ในวันพรุ่งนี้สำหรับทุกท่าน ขอให้เป็นวันที่มีความสุขนะคะ…＊ .　 . . . . . . Daisuki！ . . . . . . . ฮินะ . . . . . . . Official Higuchi Hina Blog ↓ dlvr.it/SPwRm5

#乃木坂46 #樋口日奈 #nogizaka46 #higuchi hina

[vampire6bux]

Apparently Lovey’s calf (Kamogawa Sea World) was confirmed dead 2 days ago because all four orcas were performing with no baby… that’s 2 calves passed this year already and we’ve barely started. The other was born to Naya (Moskvarium) which passed away due to a heart deformation

#Both Narnia and Nord died last year leaving Naya alone and that was to be first and likely the only calf born at the Moskavarium #this year is looking grim so far for orcas guys

[6u6-ch]

9/3

Kamogawa Sea World!

I came to Chiba for this! I love killer whales!

シャチ！シャチ！

関東近辺だとここでしかみられない！

#鴨川��ーワールド #シャチ #水族館

[thezanyarthropleura]

The Not-March Ones (4 of 5)

We have no choice, we must review Gamera vs. Zigra at once!

Gamera vs. Zigra was released on July 17, 1971, and will celebrate 52 years this summer. It is the seventh and final film of what I am defining as the ‘mainline Showa era’ produced by the original iteration of Daiei, and the second-to-last Showa film overall, followed by the eighth film Gamera: Super Monster nine years later.

So, let’s talk about Sugawara Chikako, also known as the Zigra woman, also known as X1 or Woman X, or Lora Lee Vara(?) in the English dub. While, yes, she’s probably most well known for being the film’s eye candy (appreciated), particularly in one infamous sequence where she’s apparently lost access to any memories of what constitutes appropriate human clothing for a civilian disguise (doubly appreciated), later on in the film, Zigra’s control over her is broken and it’s revealed that she’s not actually an alien, but the human geologist who was aboard the lunar rover Zigra appears to destroy/absorb in the opening moments of the movie.

Yes, let me rephrase that: in the span of one year since the last movie, the apparent acceptable roles for women have gone from mother/homemaker to astronaut.

And her character isn’t left there. There’s a whole half hour remaining in the film, over the course of which Chikako starts regaining memories, saddled with the guilt of all the destruction she’s caused and using her returning knowledge to assist the human forces gathered against Zigra. She experiences the highs and lows of the rest of the cast, the sadness when it seems the missing children are dead and the relief when Gamera saves them – after her own knowledge of Zigra’s stasis beam proves instrumental in revealing they can be saved at all.

There are quite a few other women in the film as well, particularly Ishikawa Kiyoko, who connects the two main kids’ families this time around by being Kenichi(kid 1)’s aunt, who’s been hired as a babysitter to take care of Helen(kid 2) and her sister Margie(sidelined kid 3) while their mother is in the hospital with another child on the way(nonexistent kid 4). There’s also Ishikawa Hiroko, who seems to be Kenichi’s mother, Yosuke’s wife, and thus Kiyoko’s sister-in-law (both the dub and the subtitles make it confusing exactly how this family structure works, so this is all pretty much just my best guess). There’s also the Sea World announcer, who gets an extended scene near the beginning of the film and is later one of several women a mind-controlled Chikako confronts rather seductively and steals clothes from, but I can’t find an actual credit to confirm if she has a canonical name (it’s also possible she’s a cameo appearance by an actual staff member at Kamogawa Sea World at the time).

The monster fights in this film are excellent and entertaining, particularly the extended underwater sequences where Gamera fights Zigra in the form where he’s proportioned like a regular shark. This seems especially difficult to choreograph in theory, but the film makes it look easy, and the only real complaint I have is that both fights in this movie play out very similarly, location-wise - an underwater battle that then moves onto the same beach right next to Sea World, both times. MST3K-only viewers will be missing out an amazing, comedic scene where Gamera tries to sneakily steal the bathyscaphe out from under a sleeping Zigra’s nose in something that strongly resembles a Looney Tunes sketch. I also have a particular fondness for the scenes where Zigra leaps off of land and flaps at the air with his large wings/fins, and his stasis beam is a unique ability for a kaiju and creates interesting plot elements in the way it’s used. And then, of course, there’s the famous scene where Gamera plays Zigra’s back like a xylophone and does a touchdown dance. It’s the little things, you know?

Maybe I’m just biased toward films set in beach and ocean-themed environments, but this film is a joy to watch, with beautiful on-location shots at Kamogawa Sea World (including a chase sequence through the aquarium halls) and the surrounding shoreline. There are open-ocean and island sequences too, and of course, the special effects seafloor scenes where the monsters do battle. Not to mention the strong environmental themes, a longtime favorite staple of mine in classic kaiju cinema, of which this movie may be an early, if not the first major example (by one week). Add to all that Chikako’s full character arc, which may arguably make her the earliest Gamera example of a female lead character despite being a villain for the majority of the movie, and this film is easily my favorite of the mainline seven Showa films.

And my shipping heart is pleased that, even if it’s only happening in the background, Chikako and Kiyoko seem to have gotten quite friendly with each other toward the end – especially in the final wide shot of the human cast on the beach, right before the Gamera theme song kicks in, where Kiyoko visibly preens herself for Chikako and then they stand closer together than anyone else in the shot and even take a moment to look longingly into each other’s eyes.

Make an event of this film with jelly sharks, goldfish, Swedish fish, and Sharkleberry Fin Kool-aid. And/or try my Shark Week special: multi-sized pasta shell macaroni and cheese, mixed with fish of choice and topped with old bay seasoning.

#gamera #gamera vs zigra #zigra #sugawara chikako #ishikawa kiyoko #gamera march #gamera april #a lesbian reviews all the gamera movies

[noomzila]

โชว์ปลาวาฬออร์ก้า น่ารักมาก #orca_japan7 (at 鴨川シーワールド Kamogawa Sea World) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzbxnFPLsEFJz2W1Q19Fs8B8M2ZdWpjuVxNuE0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#orca_japan7

[shirukushiruku]

🐳 (at 鴨川シーワールド Kamogawa Sea World) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgYrxjwpQQNI7luGXYtfhHw4k5A-tIeBx2Dk0c0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[maoyeamh]

#original photography #chiba #aquarium #kamogawa sea world #jellyfish #Chrysaora colorata #Purple striped jelly

[orcinus-ocean]

Anyone know why inherentlywild.co.uk changed the name of Patty to Freyja?

#Patty #Kamogawa Sea World

[the-cetacean]

Kamogawa Vol 14

#kamogawa sea world #beluga #belugas #beluga whale #beluga whales #cetacean

[girlwiththeorcatattoo]

I really love seeing the interactions between the trainers and orcas at Kamogawa Sea World. They seem so much more relaxed with the animals than any other facility, in my opinion. Maybe that is because they are allowed in the water with them.

#orca #killer whale #kamogawa sea world #sea world #this is adorable #really wish I could visit this place

[orcasunnamed]

ID: KSW-OO -S0601

PROPOSED NAME: Chiba

NAME MEANING: He was found stranded in Katsuura, Chiba, Japan.

SEX: Male

AGE: Estimated 3-4 years old

PARENTS: Unknown

INFO: Chiba was found emaciated on the shore in Katsuura in February 2006 and was sent to Kamogawa Sea World for rehabilitation. He sadly died due to unknown causes only 3 days after his rescue.

photos found via inherentlywild

#orca #killer whale #shamu #orcinus orca

[snini-9]

Abnormal Behaviour

All information and images can be found on this site. *as by request, some of the videos here were originally from PETA* As seen with other highly intelligent animals such as apes and elephants, cetaceans often exhibit stereotypical or abnormal behaviour. Repetitive in nature, this behaviour has no obvious goal or function and is thought to be a result of boredom, distress, and frustration related to an unnatural environment. As a cetacean’s natural repertoire of behaviours cannot be satisfied in a barren concrete tank, they may try to reduce the resulting tension by developing destructive behaviours such as self-stranding for prolonged periods of time, biting on metal gates/chewing at the environment, vomiting and self-mutilation, or non-beneficial behaviours such as comatose-like states/lethargy, head bobbing and pacing/circling.

​

Self-stranding is a particularly notable stereotypical behaviour due to its potential to become life-threatening. In captivity, cetaceans are taught to beach themselves on concrete slide outs to present themselves to an audience, or to participate in husbandry behaviours such as having their weight taken. This taught behaviour quickly becomes an abnormal habit as cetaceans have been seen to repetitively slide out and lie motionlessly on concrete surfaces for up to 30 minutes. Killer whales, the largest species of cetacean in captivity, can weigh up to 22,000 pounds. Once beached, the orca’s weight begins to slowly crush its internal organs and damage its muscles, causing stores of myoglobin to be released. Travelling in the bloodstream, the protein reaches the kidneys where it is highly toxic. After a prolonged period of time, the damage to their kidneys is irreversible. Re-entry into the water allows their blood to circulate more freely, and this carries even more myoglobin to the kidneys leading to severe kidney damage.

​

Photographer Reginald Andreas captured the moment a transient orca stranded whilst hunting elephant seal pups on Sea Lion Island, the Falkland Islands. After vomiting repeatedly, the male died.

Additionally, on top of this risk, beached cetaceans can also perish from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Their thick layer of blubber and the lack of water causes cetaceans to overheat, become dehydrated and dry out. In February 2016, Morgan, a female orca at Loro Parque, intentionally beached herself on a slide out for around 10 minutes.

​

Morgan beaching herself on a concrete slide-out at Loro Parque. The skin on her melon began to dry out leading to her trainer, Rafa Sanchez, signalling her to return to the water.

Within this time, the skin around Morgan’s melon dried out in 19°C heat. Following this incident, Kelly Flaherty Clark, SeaWorld Orlando’s director of animal training, admitted she’s seen orcas “slide out for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even 30 minutes, on their own.” If Morgan’s skin can dry out in 10 minutes in 19°C heat, it’s unimaginable how damaging this abnormal behaviour can be if performed for 30 minutes at SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, which regularly sees temperatures of up to 28°C.

​

In the wild, only one small population of Patagonian transients in Argentina intentionally strand themselves for hunting purposes. Consisting of around 22 individuals, the whole population was taught how to perform the unique hunting technique by two male orcas named Mel and Bernardo. This cultural behaviour is passed down from generation to generation of Patagonian mammal-eating orcas and, as no captive orcas originate from this population, it’s completely unnatural for the behaviour to be replicated in captivity. Kshamenk, a bull orca at Mundo Marino, is indeed an Argentinian transient but it is unclear whether he is directly related to the stranding orca pod.

​

Despite not originating from Patagonian transients, orcas at Kamogawa SeaWorld seem to be avid participants in this behaviour, as do various other species of cetacean trapped in Japan’s often horribly inadequate tanks.

​https://youtu.be/hJVybEhJGV4

https://youtu.be/CW6-8t_RSyM

Other damaging abnormal behaviours include wearing the teeth by chewing at the environment and regurgitating food. It’s common for under-stimulated and bored orcas to “chew” metal bars and mouth concrete pool corners, like the main stages and concrete slide outs, consequently causing their teeth to become worn, chipped and broken.

​

Morgan chewing on concrete.

Following feeding sessions, captive orcas have been seen to regurgitate their food and play with it. Although this may provide the orca with some stimulation, obsessive regurgitation can lead to health problems as the corrosiveness of stomach acid can damage the lining of the oesophagus as well as already worn teeth. According to John Hargrove, a former senior trainer, all of the whales at SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Antonio and Marineland Antibes frequently regurgitated their food, to the point that it became a notable problem. Trainers at Marineland Antibes attempted to discourage the behaviour by mixing spiny mackerel (a fish with painful spikes) into their food to make regurgitation painful, and therefore less appealing. However, unwilling to give up their harmful habit, the orcas figured out how much spiny mackerel was in their food, when they ingested it, and when it was less painful to regurgitate it.

​https://youtu.be/Pnj4rvV4htQ

Perhaps the most worrying of all abnormal behaviours witnessed in captivity is self-mutilation. There are various ways a cetacean can harm itself in a captive environment but the most commonly observed behaviour is for a cetacean to ram its head or body into the walls or gates of its tank. A particularly disturbing example of self-mutilative behaviour in captive orcas would be the behaviour of Hugo, a male Southern Resident killer whale who was captured from the wild in February 1968 and housed at Miami Seaquarium. Prior to being moved to “The Whale Bowl” (the tank that currently houses Lolita), Hugo was housed in “The Celebrity Pool” which is so small that it now houses manatees.

​

​Hugo housed in the “The Celebrity Bowl” in the late 1960 – early 1970s.

“The Celebrity Bowl” now housing manatees.

During his stay in this pathetic pool, Hugo developed self-harming behaviour that consisted of him slamming his body into the tank walls. This resulted in a nasty injury on October 1st, 1970 when he slammed his head into the circular ‘acrylic bubble’ feature of his tank and punctured a five-inch hole into it.

​

The acrylic window Hugo smashed his head into

The acrylic sliced off approximately two-inches of his rostrum. Hugo had to undergo a 45-minute operation without a local anaesthetic for his severed flesh to be stitched back onto his rostrum. Despite his veterinarian’s best efforts, the sewn-on tissue turned completely white, died and fell off completely after seven days, although Hugo did make a full recovery within just four months.

​

Newspaper clipping of Hugo’s injury.

Hugo’s self-harming behaviour continued when he was placed in The Whale Bowl with Lolita. On March 4th, 1980, his behaviour proved to be fatal as he slammed his head into a tank wall and suffered a brain aneurysm resulting in his death. He was just 15 years old.  

​

15-year-old Hugo being removed from his tank shortly after his death in 1980.

However, self-harming behaviour at Miami Seaquarium did not end with the death of Hugo. As recently as September 2015, multiple bottlenose dolphins who take part in the oceanarium’s “Top Deck Dolphin Show” were seen to repeatedly hit their heads on the bottom of their tank floor. Watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/QpANcUismqU​

Just like Hugo, Kanduke, a Bigg’s transient housed at SeaWorld Orlando, was also known to participate in self-mutilative behaviour. According to Carol Ray, a former SeaWorld trainer, Kanduke would ram himself as hard as he possibly could into the cement walls, metal gates, and glass panels in the show pool on a daily basis. He bloodied his chin, teeth, and rostrum so badly on some occasions that he was not allowed to participate in shows because management said he looked too bad for the public to see. More recently, Skyla, a female orca at Loro Parque, displayed similar behaviour when she breached onto concrete, effectively slamming her body onto the stage, prior to a show.

Skyla, a female orca at Loro Parque, slamming her body onto a concrete surface.

Morgan, another female orca at the same facility, repeatedly rammed the gate of the medical pool she was held in after she was separated from her tank mate, Tekoa.

https://youtu.be/JIqmG_PE7kQ

Some captive cetaceans take it a step further and leap out of their tanks, hitting the hard concrete floor below. Kotar, a deceased male orca who resided at SeaWorld San Antonio, reportedly jumped out of his tank twice whilst at the facility, requiring staff to clear and flood the entire stadium so that they could float Kotar back into the pool. In 2002, Hudson, another deceased orca, jumped out of his tank at Marineland Canada during a feeding session. Reportedly unharmed, Hudson was placed on a stretcher and lifted by crane back into the pool. Eight years later in 2010, Kuru, a female false killer whale, jumped out of her tank during a show at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. She sustained minor scratches and bruises from the incident.

​https://youtu.be/wxzTyQillMQ

As recently as 2015, a dolphin jumped out of its tank at Gulf World, landing directly on its dorsal fin. According to former Gulf World trainer, Ashley Guidry, the marine park’s dolphins would jump out of their tanks so frequently that a metal rail was added to the top of the show tanks to try to discourage the dolphin’s dangerous behaviour. It wasn’t uncommon for trainers to come into the park in the morning to find a beached dolphin lying on the concrete walkway beside their tank.

​

Other abnormal behaviours, such as comatose-like states and logging, are not necessarily harmful when performed, but do carry risks of their own – risks which have been held responsible for contributing to the deaths of two of SeaWorld’s orcas. In captivity, it’s extremely common to see lethargic cetaceans floating motionlessly at the surface, known as logging, or lying perfectly still at the bottom of the pool.

​https://youtu.be/4dHLzWuVvl0

https://youtu.be/A2qhfcTYP8E

https://youtu.be/vkpOzTETYY0

https://youtu.be/RWq7ZxsadAM

These lethargic behaviours are explained to guests who query it as how dolphins rest. However, although this may be the captivity-adapted version, wild dolphins do not stop moving to sleep. As dolphins must be conscious to breathe, they use unihemispheric sleep, in which they shut down one hemisphere of their brain at a time, to rest whilst remaining alert and able to breathe. Whilst in this state, dolphins remain in close proximity to their pod members, slowly moving forward.

​

https://youtu.be/W8UyuSijYsE

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According to Dr. Naomi Rose, a leading marine mammal scientist, it’s “extremely rare” for wild orcas to remain still for a minute or two, unlike captive orcas who log for hours upon hours at a time. Dr. Rose believes this highly abnormal behaviour is the result of “chronic stress, boredom and inhibition of natural behaviours that occurs as a result of inadequate living conditions” at marine parks and aquariums alike. As for captive orca deaths related to this behaviour, Kanduke, a 19-year-old male, died in 1990 with the St. Louis Encephalitis Virus (SLEV) implicated in his death, followed by Taku, a 14-year-old orca, who succumbed to the West Nile Virus (WNV) in 2007. Mosquitoes, who swarm the orca’s exposed dorsal fins and backs when they’re logging, were held responsible for transmitting the viruses.

[thezanyarthropleura]

March 21 (2 of 2: 1970)

(This post covers Gamera vs. Jiger, look out for a separate Gamera vs. Guiron post earlier today)

Happy 54 years to Gamera vs. Guiron, the fifth film in the Showa era, and happy 53 years to Gamera vs. Jiger, the sixth film in the Showa era. Two back-to-back films with quadrupedal enemy monsters, even if Guiron apparently only is because the suit was too impractical for him to be bipedal. Also, two films that play reference to major cross-culture world events happening around the time of release

To get it out of the way, for anyone who has not seen this film, but has heard of it:

Jiger puts a PARASITE in Gamera’s LUNG. She’s specifically compared to real-world parasitic insects, like those wasps that lay eggs in caterpillars. Or like bot flies. And if you don’t know what a bot fly is, you don’t want to. All that said, however, “Gamera said: my body, my choice” is a valid interpretation of this film that I will let slide, on principle.

Along with Gamera vs. Gyaos, this film has one of the most underwhelming female cast presences of the series. Aside from Jiger herself, those with major roles include only Tommy’s younger sister Susan Williams, and Hiroshi’s older sister, Kitayama Miwako. Miwako does little besides give her boyfriend cute smiles and later scold the children for their love of Gamera, although one could argue she’s the sensible one here, just trying to evacuate her family. In fact, hers and Hiroshi’s father has a childlike, friendly inventor personality, leaving Miwako to be the one who takes charge and that even her father seems subservient to, so I guess that’s a win? By the end of the movie, her cute smile seems to have curiously affixed itself to Gamera instead, so make of that what you will.

The special effects are decent and fun, just like any other Gamera movie, so if you’re here for just that, there’s little to complain about. Setting the film during the 1970 World Expo is also a neat choice, even if, after we’re introduced to it at the beginning of the film, neither the humans nor the monsters do much interacting with anything recognizably expo-related (blame the contract that wouldn’t let them smash any of the buildings). We do get a final monster fight set near the Russian pavilion and the Tower of the Sun, and the human characters congregate inside a very fun and futuristic-looking building interior, however, unlike Kamogawa Sea World in the next film, Gamera vs. Zigra, it just seems like it was far more difficult to make this setting work (or perhaps it just doesn’t hold up as well for modern audiences who may lack the proper frame of reference to appreciate it).

Personally, and this may be the nitpick of all nitpicks, on first impression I find Jiger to be the most unrealistic and cheesy of all the Gamera monsters. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been familiar with the other Showa kaiju for far longer, my first viewing of this film having been earlier this year while I first saw the others decades ago, but there’s just something about a giant ceratopsian dinosaur floating through the air like a runaway Thanksgiving day parade balloon that kinda takes me out of my otherwise grounded movie about a jet-powered monster turtle. However, (*continuity goggles on*) it only takes a little imagination outside what’s shown in the film to envision Jiger as a speed-augmented durable blockade-breaker, primarily using those frill thrusters for triceratops-like charging attacks, with a wide-radius heat ray for clearing obstacles and quill launchers to take out any stragglers. Suction feet can also be used to brace against knockdowns, and she seems specifically designed to remove other kaiju from the equation by injecting debilitating parasites. Her ability to charge through water was likely utilized to great effect against Muan warships, possibly necessitating the switch to a fleet of primarily submarines— fine, fine! (*continuity goggles off*)

All of the gross/visceral related content warnings for a scene where scientists in the movie view footage of parasitic worms being surgically removed from an elephant’s trunk. The scene is fake and staged for the film, but it’s still probably the most horrifying thing in any Kaiju movie. Other than that, most of the going-inside-Gamera part of the movie is actually fairly tame, his insides are pretty alien-looking and more often just look like underwater caves, but I personally found the baby Jiger shooting glue out of its nose to be another gross-out moment. The effects surrounding this sequence, though, where Gamera’s arm and head become clear white and you can sort of see his bones, resemble something out of a cosmic horror story. Oh, and there’s also probably one of the most uncomfortably violent things to happen to Gamera, arrows getting shot through all his limbs and then a particularly long sequence while he struggles on his back trying to get them all out while crying in pain. And, last one I swear, I don’t know what kind of warning this is (self-harm?) but Gamera protects his hearing from a sound-based attack by… putting sharp objects down his ear canals.

Along with Viras, this is another strong contender for my least favorite Gamera film, not because I particularly or overtly dislike it but because it’s just kind of lacking in exceptional qualities that make me like other films more. That, and despite some of my favorite films still having specific scenes I prefer to look away from, the fact this movie has not just one, not just two of these, but additionally a whole, continuing special effect that’s pretty uncomfortable can sometimes hurt my enthusiasm to rewatch it. It’s dark and fairly horrific, but not in any meaningful or tasteful way like Revenge of Irys or most of vs. Barugon.

On a positive note, I do like that this film delivers one more ancient-civilization-related monster sandwiched between what would otherwise be three consecutive alien monsters at the tail end of mainline Showa. Also, the scene where Gamera tries to stop the statue’s excavation is a favorite of mine, both from special effects standpoint and as a character moment for Gamera. If we step back for a moment and exclude things from the Heisei series, only considering direct evidence in the Showa films, then it’s left unclear whether Gamera actually recognizes Barugon or even Gyaos as monsters from the past that are known enemies, but here it is abundantly clear that Gamera knows Jiger, if perhaps not the full extent of her powers and abilities.

Building on this, (*slips continuity goggles back on*) personally I headcanon Jiger as having been created by the Atlanteans, keeping her origins consistent with the other Daiei kaiju, but that she was eventually defeated and sealed away on Wester Island by the Muans, as is stated in this film – even if it’s probably trying to imply a society significantly less advanced than Toho’s take on the Muans. Adjusting for this, the shape of the Devil’s Whistle statue may be the Muans’ attempt at a future-proof warning a la “this is not a place of honor” and while this does bring up the question of why a civilization with access to their own kaiju couldn’t just kill Jiger and be done with it… that’s actually also consistent with the film. Gamera specifically picks up and carries away Jiger’s body, which is our hint that stabbing her in the brain may not be enough to keep her down for good, and that using the statue or some equivalent plan of Gamera’s is actually the only guaranteed way to keep her from coming back.

...probably don’t eat anything while watching this movie, just to be safe. Especially not gummy worms.

#gamera #gamera vs jiger #jiger #kitayama miwako #gamera march #rogue atlantean warbeast jiger #a lesbian reviews all the gamera movies