Gender: MalePod: N/APlace of Capture: Born at SeaWorld of FloridaDate of Capture: Born August 25, 20

Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at SeaWorld of Florida
Date of Capture: Born August 25, 2002
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: SeaWorld of California

On August 25, 2002, Icelandic female Katina gave birth to her fifth calf at SeaWorld Orlando; a male known as Ikaika, sired by the Icelandic male Tilikum. When Ikaika was born, he became very quick friends with his older brother, Taku. He also became a favorite along park guests, as he was very interested in interacting in the underwater viewing area.

In September 2006, Katina gave birth to her sixth calf, a female named Nalani. However, Katina had mated with her son, Taku, which produced Nalani. About 9 days after her birth, Katina began showing less interest in her new calf and seemed to focus her interest on her sons, Taku and Ikaika. All three whales appeared to show some levels of aggression towards Nalani.

In Ikaika’s case, his aggression was often of a sexual nature in which he would attempt to mate with newborn Nalani. SeaWorld decided it best to place them on Valium in order to calm them down, as well as separate Taku and Ikaika from their mother. However, Nalani was less that 2 weeks old, and Valium is not recommended for pregnant or nursing females, as it can cause birth defects and interfere with the development of a nursing neonate. It was only after both Taku and Ikaika were moved to separate parks that Katina began properly caring for Nalani as she had with her other calves.

While Taku was sent to the Texas park, Ikaika was sent to Marineland Ontario in Canada on a “breeding loan” in November 2006, despite his being only 4 years old at the time. Male Orca are known to reach sexual maturity somewhere around 15 years old. When he arrived, he met three female Orca - Kiska, Nootka V, and Kiska’s calf Athena.

Unfortunately, Nootka V died in 2008 and Athena followed in 2009, leaving just Kiska and Ikaika at the park. Kiska reportedly became depressed after the death of her tankmate and calf, though Ikaika was still young and playful, bothering Kiska in an attempt to engage her in play, but Kiska was not interested. While he was with her, Ikaika was known to bite/rake Kiska, and so the pair had to be separated until Kiska recovered.

However, in November 2011, SeaWorld expressed concern over the quality of care Ikaika was receiving at Marineland, and requested that he be sent back to their park. When Marineland refused, SeaWorld took them to court in an attempt to regain custody; claiming that Marineland was not meeting their veterinary care, husbandry care, or training obligations while Ikaika was in their facility. SeaWorld won the case and Ikaika was returned to their care and transferred to the San Diego park that same month. Upon his arrival at the park, Ikaika was raked and attacked at first, but eventually befriended Corky II, Ulises, and Orkid.

Today, Ikaika is 12 years old and remains at the San Diego park where he performs daily.

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