Photo by SeaWorld.
Nakai was a 20 year old male killer whale that lives at SeaWorld San Diego. He was the first captive orca to be born using artificial insemination and died on the 4th of August, 2022.
Death
In the evening of the 4th of August, 2022, Nakai passed away. It was originally rumored that Nakai had been out of shows for two weeks, and that he was gravely ill with an unknown infection/illness. The following day, an anonymous Instagram user claimed that their friend, who worked at SeaWorld(not directly with the whales), confirmed Nakai had died the previous day. Hours later, SeaWorld released the statement for Nakai's death(but had to repost as the original statement had a photo of Kalia, not Nakai). Peta quickly came to claim that Nakai's death was caused by an attack by another orca, or that there was tension the day he died. However, this was proved to be false, as the orcas in the video were Corky II and Kalia.
Despite that, the rest of the pod has seemed to be stable following his passing. There were many vocalizations between the pod members, according to people who went two days following his death. Orkid, who was the closest to Nakai at his death, has remained physically stable and continues to do well. It's not exactly known how Nakai might have affected the other orcas. His necropsy results are currently pending.
Gallery
If you are going to use any of these photos, please credit the photographer and/or the provider. PLEASE REFER BACK TO THIS WIKI. NOT ALL PHOTOS CAN BE USED!!
Many photos can be found from Inherently Wild.
Keet, Ulises, Orkid, Shouka, Kasatka, Kalia, Nakai, Ikaika and Corky II(left to right)
Photos by SeaWorld.