I--well, a, pardon the username. Long story. But b, I was wondering if there is a reason captive orcas hold their tails up on the slideout? Are they taught to ? Or is it a comfort thing--maybe relieving some of the pressure on certain organs? Or something else? I'm a dog trainer, cetaceans in general are not my forte (I'm very staunchly anti-cap, but I mean in terms of cetacean behaviour.)
Hmm I'd never thought about this properly but I think it might be a mix of training and comfort. A lot of the orcas seem too long for the slideouts and being so big I can't imagine it'd be comfortable with half their body hanging over a ledge and at the same time it creates a nice 'pose' for the audience to take photos of etc. Then I think the younger orcas learn through mimicry so they just copy the adults and hence why they do it.