SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, and marine mammal park, located in San Diego, California, United States. The park is owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of The Blackstone Group. SeaWorld San Diego is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). SeaWorld was founded in 1964 by four graduates of the University Of California, Los Angeles. Although their original idea of an underwater restaurant was not feasible at the time, the idea was expanded into a 22-acre (8.9 ha) marine zoological park along the shore of Mission Bay in San Diego. After an investment of about $1.5 million, the park opened with 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and two seawater aquariums, and hosted more than 400,000 visitors in its first year of operation.

There are five species of dolphins at SeaWorld San Diego: Common dolphin hybrid, both Atlantic/Pacific Bottlenose dolphins and Commerson's dolphins. The Bottlenose dolphins may rotate between Blue Horizons, Rocky Point Preserve, and Animal Care. The Commerson's dolphins live at an exhibit near Journey to Atlantis. There are also two Pacific short-finned pilot whales: Bubbles (F) and 9Lives (also known as Shadow) (F) and one Atlantic short-finned pilot whale: Sully (M), a young male that was rescued, but unable to be returned to the wild.