#marineland canada
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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Gender:Female
Pod: N/A (Mother was Kiska)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born August 8, 2004
Age at Capture: Captive born
On August 8, 2004, Icelandic female Kiska gave birth to her fifth calf and first daughter, sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Canada.
Later known as Athena, as she was born during the Summer Olympics in Athens, she was healthy and very curious. Athena could often be seen interacting with guests in the underwater viewing areas.
She would sometimes copy the behaviors she saw Kiska and another whale, Ikaika, performing, as she was young and did not know as many behaviors as the older whales.
Unfortunately, Athena died sometime in 2009. Her cause of death has never been released.
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Gender:Female
Pod: N/A (Mother was Nootka V)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born April 7, 2004
Age at Capture: Captive born
On April 7, 2004, Icelandic female Nootka V gave birth to her sixth calf, a female sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Canada.
Not much is known about her, but it is believed that the calf was nicknamed April. However, she reportedly had trouble nursing properly from Nootka V.
Unfortunately, sometime in April or May of 2004, April died due to malnutrition at less than a month old.
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Gender:Male
Pod: N/A (Mother was Nootka V)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born December 18, 1999
Age at Capture: Captive born
On December 18, 1999, Icelandic female Nootka V gave birth to her fifth calf, a male sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Ontario.
Later known as Algonquin, he was the second calf to be born in the new tank complex known as Friendship Cove. Not long after, he bonded with his half-brother Hudson, who was just 1 year older than Algonquin.
Algonquin was described as curious and people-oriented, which made him a rather poor performer. He preferred spending time interacting with guests through the underwater viewing windows as well as hunting sea gulls with Hudson.
Unfortunately, he was reportedly found dead at the bottom of the tank on August 13, 2002. His official cause of death was due to a Twisted Intestine.
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Gender:Male
Pod: N/A (Mother was Kiska)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born September 15, 1998
Age at Capture: Captive born
On September 15, 1998, Icelandic female Kiska gave birth to her fourth calf, a male sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Ontario. Later named Hudson, he was the first calf to be born in the new tank complex known as Friendship Cove.
In 1999, after the birth of his half-brother Algonquin, the two became very close and spent a lot of time together.
When Algonquin died in 2002, Hudson became less active, but more focused on trainers. Though Nootka V, Algonquin’s mother, became unusually aggressive towards Hudson after Algonquin’s death.
As a result of this aggression, Hudson apparently fell out of the tank during a staff Christmas party. He suffered a few rakes and scars, but was placed in a stretcher and back into the pool where he was separated from the females and kept with his father, Kandu VII.
During the summer of 2003, Hudson was moved to the old Orca tank, King Waldorf Theatre, in order to improve his performance skills. However, his half-sister, Neocia, was quite dominant and aggressive towards Hudson, so he was sent back to Friendship Cove.
Once there, he was reunited with Kandu VII, and later on, Kiska and Nootka V.
Hudson was described as a good performer, but liked to grab things around him which made it dangerous to perform waterworks with him. He was also allegedly trained for Artificial Insemination by the time he was 6, and semen was apparently collected from him, though there are no reliable sources to confirm this.
Unfortunately, on October 20, 2004, Hudson died suddenly due to Meningitis at only 6 years old.
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Gender:Female
Pod: N/A (Mother was Nootka V)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born May 27, 1998
Age at Capture: Captive born
On May 27, 1998, Icelandic female Nootka V gave birth to her fourth calf, a female sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Ontario in King Waldorf Theatre.
The calf met it’s full sister Neocia and seemed to be doing well. All of the other whales had already been moved to the new tank, Friendship Cove. Nootka V, her calf, and Neocia were set to be moved to Friendship Cove after the end of the summer season.
Unfortunately, the calf died on June 7, 1998 due to unknown causes at only 11 days old.
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Gender:Male
Pod: N/A (Mother was Kiska)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born November 6, 1996
Age at Capture: Captive born
On November 6, 1996, Icelandic female Kiska gave birth to her third calf, a male sired by Kandu VII, at Marineland Ontario. The calf, later known as Nova, was born in the old stadium, King Waldorf Theatre, where all the others had been born.
Because of overcrowding in the stadium, Nova and the other calves were moved to an indoor pool known as the “warehouse”, which is completely devoid of natural sunlight and fresh air.
In 1998, the new tank, known as Friendship Cove, was built and Nova, along with a few others, was reunited with his family. However, some of the whales were moved back to King Waldorf Theatre in the summer for shows.
A young female named Neocia was moved with Nova, but due to Neocia’s aggressive and dominant behavior, she was kept alone and Nova was sent back to Friendship Cove.
Unfortunately, on August 20, 2001, Nova died due to both Pneumonia and Starvation. Marineland, however, denied his death for many months.
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Gender:Female
Pod: N/A (Mother was Nootka V)
Place of Capture: Captive born
Date of Capture: Born April 21, 1996
Age at Capture: Captive born
On April 21, 1996, Icelandic female Nootka V gave birth to her third calf at Marineland Ontario. The female, sired by Kandu VII, was known as Malik, as well as “E-Day”.
However, she suffered from a weakened immune system, and was especially susceptible to seemingly harmless illnesses.
Nootka V would often attack Malik, resulting in their permanent separation when Malik was 13 months old. Malik was then moved to the “warehouse” - an indoor pool completely devoid of natural sunlight and fresh air. Here, she was kept with a number of other young whales.
In 1998, when the construction for the new pool, Friendship Cove, was completed, Malik was immediately sent there with other whales. She was mostly kept with her father, who reportedly treated her gently and was a good companion for her.
Unfortunately, on March 4, 2000, Malik died due to Immune System Deficiency.
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