SeaWorld’s whales die much earlier than wild orcas.  Howard Garrett, co-founder of the nonprofit Orca Network, made this claim in “Blackfish”: Female killer whales in the wild can live up to 100 years and their male counterparts 50 to 60 years but SeaWorld’s orcas only live 25 to 30 years. Garrett and others in the movie say holding whales captive cuts their lives short – by a lot.  SeaWorld called those conclusions patently false and said data on killer whale life spans is often misrepresented or oversimplified.  The Orlando Sentinel conducted an exhaustive review of related research in January and found a lack of conclusive data on killer whales’ life spans.  The Florida newspaper cited studies by U.S. and Canadian government researchers that found female killer whales in the Pacific Northwest live 30 to 50 years and males live from anywhere from 19 to 31 years, but that individual whales can live far longer. Female orcas can live up to 90 years and males up to 70 years, according to the Sentinel.  But Sentinel reporter Jason Garcia’s biggest takeaway was that biologists aren’t certain how long killer whales live because there hasn’t been enough research:  With the limited data available, scientists say it can be misleading to compare life expectancies between whales in the wild and those in captivity. Instead, they say, the more accurate comparison to use is the “annual survival rate” — essentially, an estimate of the percentage of whales in a population expected to survive each year.  By that measure, Garcia found captive whales died at nearly three times the rate of wild orcas each year though more recent data reveals similar survival rates.