Tilikum was a 36 year old male Icelandic killer whale that lived at SeaWorld Orlando. He was captured on the 9th of November, 1983 in Togi, Iceland and died on the 6th of January, 2017, due to Bacterial Pneumonia. Tilikum is known for the deaths of three people and staring in the documentary film Blackfish, as well as siring the most killer whale calves in captivity.
The Beginning Days
Tilikum is Icelandic. Photo provided by Viviana Colasanti.
Tilikum was captured on the 9th of November, 1983, alone.[1] Although, only 5 days after his capture, Samoa and Nandu were also caught. After his capture, he was sent to Sædýrasafnið to be trained and sold. In 1984, Tilikum grabbed a staff member while they were trying to have him move pulls, and as a result the staff member's wetsuit was torn. After waiting just over a year, he was sold to Sealand of the Pacific, and arrived there on the 11th of November, 1984. At Sealand, he met females Haida II and Nootka IV. During his time here, he was continually beaten up by the two. At night, they'd lock him in a small indoor space, also known as the medical pool, with hardly any place to roam. Tilikum would continuously bite the medal gates, causing lots of damage to his teeth.
In on the 21st of February, 1991, tragedy stuck. Right after a show, 21 year old Keltie Byrne slipped and fell into the main show pool. It is believed that Tilikum was the first to go after her, although while saying this, none of the whales were taught waterworks or to even have people in the water with them. Because of this, rumors say that Tilikum began "attacking" the trainer, only for the more aggressive females, Nootka and Haida, to be apart of the scene. It is unknown exactly who or what happened while Byrne was under the water, and there are many different scenarios of how the scene unfolded. Unfortunately, we do know the Byrne accidentally ended up drowning from the incident, believed to be from the whales(IDs unclear) dragging her under or keeping her from touching the surface.
On the 7th of November, 1991, SeaWorld filed for a permit to transfer the remaining orcas to their parks. Later in that year, on Christmas Eve of 1991, Haida had Tilikum's first calf. At the time, Tilikum was a "pre teen", only 10 years old.[2] The male, later named Kyuquot, didn't spend much time with his father as Nootka and Haida backed him into the small medical pool while Kyuquot was being raised. SeaWorld filed for an emergency permit to transfer Tilikum from Sealand to their Orlando park due to the health problems as the medical pool was very small for his size.[3] Submitted on the 3rd of January, the permit was approved on the 8th and the 9th of January, 1992, Tilikum was shipped to SeaWorld Orlando.[4] While this move was temporarily, Sealand would later close and the move would become permanent.[3] Later on the 4th of February, 1992, Nootka gave birth to her first calf, a male. Unfortunately, he later died on the 9th or March, 1992.
Onto SeaWorld
Tilikum after arriving at SeaWorld Orlando. Photo by Associated Press.
After arriving in Orlando, he and Katina later each had their 3rd calf, a male named Taku, born in 1993. Later in that year, Gudrun had he second calf. The female, named Nyar, was born with many health problems. Due to this, she never performed in shows, and at some points, Gudrun tried drowning her poor calf. She was later paired with her father, in which Tilikum made a great companion for her. On the 8th January, 1993, Nootka 4 arrived at SeaWorld Orlando. In August of 1994, Nootka gave birth to her second calf. Unfortunately, the calf was a stillborn and Nootka ended up passing away from the complications. Later in 1996, Gudrun had her 3rd calf, but was a stillbirth. Sadly, Gudrun couldn't deliver her calf and later died from the birth.
Aside from the fact of having unborn calves, Katina gave birth to her 4th calf, a female later to be named Unna. Although, he was hardly paired with his calf. In 1997, Unna's half sister, Kalina, gave birth to her 3rd calf, be was a unfortunate stillbirth. In 1998, a great friend of Tilikum, named Taima, had her 1st calf, a male named Sumar. Although Sumar survived, he was often pushed around and mistreated by his mother, including her slamming his body into a wall. At only 8 months old, he was transferred to SeaWorld Ohio. In all of this, Kalina had her 4th calf, a male named Tuar in 1999. The calf survived but was rarely seen with his father.
Later in the year, on the 6th July, 1999, a poor and mentally ill man by the name of Daniel Dukes snuck into SeaWorld after park hours. The next morning, he was found dead, in Tilikum's pool, and more specifically on Tilikum's back, without clothes, bruised and bitten with what was suspected to be killer whale teeth marks. The cause of death was listed as hypothermia and drowning, as stated by the coroner's report. This is could be the case, although it is unknown. It was never confirmed if Tilikum had to do with the death, as if he either killed the man, or "played" with him after he was already dead.
The 2000s
In 2000, Taima gave birth to her 2nd calf, another male named Tekoa. Just like Sumar, he was mistreated by his mother. Instead of moving park however, he ended staying in Orlando but wasn't paired with his father. Later, females Kasatka, and former mate Haida 2, and Kasatka's daughter, Takara, were artificially inseminated(A.I.) via Tilikum's sperm. Unfortunately, Haida 2 passed away in August of 2001, carrying a 5 month old fetus.
In September of 2001, Kasatka gave birth to her second calf, the first killer whale to be successfully born using artificial insemination. The young male, named Nakai, wasn't much older than his niece, who happened to be born 8 months later. In May of 2002, Takara went into labor with her first calf. The female, later named Kohana, was the first female killer whale to also be born through artificial insemination. Later on, Katina gave birth to her 5th calf, the third between the two. Ikaika, the male calf, was never really paired with his father, despite living at the same facility. He spent much time with his mother and older brother Taku, who he shared a great bond with.
Death
On the 6th of January, 2017, Tilikum died.[5] The autopsy revealed the cause of death was bacterial pneumonia.[6] He was one of the largest captive orcas, weighing in at around 11,800 pounds in September of 2016.[7] It was thought that he was around 36 years old.[8] His reproductive organs were used in several scientific studies researching the breeding and reproducing of killer whales.
References/Sources
- ↑ Iceland Prog Report
- ↑ "Obituary: Tilikum 1981-2017"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Inside Seaworld - The Tilikum Transaction"
- ↑ "Sea World salvation" - 12th of January, 1992
- ↑ "Killer whale at center of 'Blackfish' dies" - January 6, 2017
- ↑ "Tilikum the SeaWorld orca’s cause of death revealed" - February 4, 2017
- ↑ "Meet the Man Trying to Save SeaWorld From Itself"
- ↑ "Why Tilikum, SeaWorld's Killer Orca, Was Infamous"