Tenerife’s Loro Parque has revealed the name of its latest star attraction, a baby orca whale born in the park on 31 March.
The male calf was born to Morgan, the facility’s most famous resident since her arrival in Loro Parque in 2011 when she had to be rescued after she was separated from her pod and became stranded on the Dutch coast.
To decide what it would be called, Loro Parque ran a ‘name the whale’ consultation on the internet and the exercise attracted around 7000 entries on Instagram. The wide-ranging suggestions were whittled down to a shortlist and a second round of voting saw Teno come out on top of the options available.
Teno is a name familiar to almost everyone in Tenerife and the wider Canaries as it is the name of the spectacular mountain range and biodiversity conservation zone in the northwest of the island.
Announcing the name, Loro Parque president Wolfgang Kiessling highlighted the positive impact of this consultation and expressed his deep gratitude for the “extraordinary response” from the public, especially young people. “The calf represents new hope for cetacean conservation and education, and now bears a name that links its history to the identity of its homeland», he added.
Teno is being kept alongside its mother in controlled spaces during its early months until both are ready to join the rest of Loro Parque’s orca family.
Photo: Loro Parque
