The Marineland of Antibes is a theme park founded in 1970 by Count Roland de La PoypeinAntibes (Alpes-Maritimes), in the French Riviera. Covering 26 hectares, it includes a marine zoological park with dolphinarium,[1]awater park (Aquasplash), a children's play park (Kid's Island),[2] mini golf (Adventure Golf)[3] and a hotel (Marineland Resort).[4] It is the property of the Spanish multinational company Parques Reunidos, whose main shareholder are the investment funds EQT Partners and Elliott Management. Since 2017, the director is Pascal Picot.[5]
Since 2010, it has been accused of cetacean captivity, with the claim that dolphinariums can't assure proper & healthy captivity conditions for that species.
On July 25, 2006, the park was sold to the Spanish amusement park group Parques Reunidos for about €75 million.[7]
In October 2015, a fatal case of severe flooding and inclement weather conditions hit Antibes,[8] killing Valentin, a 19-year old male orca born within captivity inside the park.[9] The park was deluged with mud, also killing sharks, sea lions and turtles, because it was left without electricity to pump in clean water.[10]
The largest Orca pool complex in the world with a capacity of 11,000,000 US gallons (42,000 m3) of water and a panoramic glass wall 64 metres (210 ft) long. Marineland holds two orcas: Wikie and Keijo. The two orcas were supposed to be transported to Japan in 2024 but French NGO One Voice obtained that the court prohibit Marineland from relocating the orcas before the end of the independent assessment.[11]
As of April 2020, Marineland housed a total of 12 bottlenose dolphins. The names of the dolphins are: Malou (F), Sharky (F), Rocky (M), Dam (M), Neo (M), Nala (F), Tux (M), Ania (F), Jo (F), Kai (M), Luà (F), and Ollie (F).
Les Coulisses de l'apprentissage (sea lion show)[edit]
A live demonstration of the training techniques used with all the mammals in the park, in which the seal and sea lion trainers disclose some of the "ropes" for preparing the show, to better understand the basis of the relationship between humans and animals.
In a 30-metre (98 ft) tunnel through an aquarium containing nearly 2,000,000 litres (530,000 US gal) of water, visitors are surrounded by sharks and manta rays.
On June 11, 2021, polar bears Flocke, Indiana, Tala, and Yuma are no longer housed within Mainland, France, having been moved to Yorkshire Wildlife Park.[12]
For €69, guests can spend 25 minutes interacting with orcas at "Orca Fjord" through a large panoramic window, with the aid and education of trainers.[13]
