1-Year-Old Shamu Gets to Eat and Play All Day : Would You Argue With a 1,000-Pound Baby?

Baby Shamu, Sea World’s killer whale calf that today celebrates its first birthday, generally gets what it wants when it wants it.

Fish? Baby Shamu, who weighs an estimated 1,000 pounds, now eats 65 pounds a day, courtesy of the aquatic park’s handlers. Full-grown whales that weigh as much as 6,000 pounds eat just twice that amount, park spokesman Dan LeBlanc said Friday.

The fishy diet has taken the whale from 6 1/2 feet at birth to slightly longer than 10 feet. Its estimated weight (Shamu has not yet been trained to enter a sling for weighing on a crane-lifted scale) has gone from 250 pounds at birth to about 1,000 pounds.

Work? Baby Shamu mostly plays, but park visitors seem content to simply gawk at Sea World’s littlest whale, LeBlanc said.

Baby Shamu has learned a handful of commands, but, in large part, is free to roam during performances in the park’s main tank.

“She does what she wants to do,” LeBlanc said. “We’re not in a big hurry to train her.”

A birthday party? Baby Shamu didn’t actually demand a celebration, but Sea World managers are throwing a whale of a party anyway.

“Our kid is Baby Shamu, and we wanted to do something for kids,” LeBlanc said. Consequently, children under the age of 11 who donate canned food, dry food or new children’s clothing will enter the park at no charge today and Sunday. Adults, with or without food, pay full price.

Baby Shamu’s first year has not been serene.

Just three days after her birth, which occurred during a regularly scheduled performance, Baby Shamu’s father, Orky, died. On Aug 21, her mother, Kandu, died after attacking Corky, another female whale, during a performance at the park.

The whale calf has adapted to life in its mother’s absence, LeBlanc said. Corky, who has “been in with Baby Shamu since the third day,” now serves as a “companion animal” to the calf, he said.

Baby Shamu was the second of a string of five whales born in captivity at Sea World parks in San Diego, San Antonio and Orlando during recent years.

Park trainers are satisfied with the calf’s progress. “The fact that she’s weaned at one year, in this case by necessity, is significant,” LeBlanc said. “She’s eating solid food, so it’s easy to treat her (with medicine), and we are taking blood samples, which is something we do routinely.”