Orkid - orca

Sex: Female

Place of birth: Born at SeaWorld of California

Date of birth: Born September 23, 1988

Current Location: SeaWorld of California

Father: Orky II

On September 23, 1988, Icelandic female Kandu V gave birth to her second calf; a female sired by the Northern Resident male Orky II. Unfortunately, Orky II died just 3 days after his daughter’s birth, so the calf was named Orkid - meaning “Orky’s kid”.

However, after Orkid’s birth, there was a great deal of tension between Kandu V and another female named Corky II, who had previously given birth to 7 calves, none being able to live more than two months. As a result, Corky II attempted to steal Orkid away from Kandu V on various occasions.

This led to a deadly incident between the two females on August 21, 1989 when Orkid was just 11 months old. Corky II and Orkid were performing a show while Kandu V was in one of the back pools. When Kandu V was let out of the back pool, she immediately swam into the show tank, ramming Corky II.

Corky II reportedly suffered a gash on her stomach, but Kandu V ended up fracturing her jaw, which cut major arteries in her nasal passages, causing her to bleed out over a period of about 45 minutes while Orkid stayed by her mother’s side.

After Kandu V’s death, Corky II and Orkid formed a strong bond, with Corky II acting as a surrogate mother to the orphaned calf. Orkid seemed to befriend many of the new whales this way, as Corky II cared for a number of younger whales. One other whale Orkid became close with was a young male named Splash; a male transferred to SeaWorld in 1992 from Marineland Ontario in order to receive better care for his epilepsy and seizures. When he suffered a seizure and ran head first into a gate in 1995, Orkid was one of the whales who helped him to the surface and into the medical pool for treatment.

Orkid was also very close with another male, Sumar, who was born in 1998 to Taima at the Orlando park. Taima was rather aggressive towards her calves, resulting in her being separated from them as well as Sumar’s move to the San Diego park in 1999 when he was just a year old. Soon after, Corky II became a surrogate mother to him, and Orkid befriended the young whale. Unfortunately, Splash died in 2005 due to a perforated stomach, as well as Sumar in 2010 due to a twisted intestine.

Much like her mother, Orkid also became somewhat of an aggressive whale, having been involved in 17 recorded incidents starting from the time she was just a year old. According to her SeaWorld profile, Orkid has been recorded bumping, mouthing, pushing, jaw popping, and pulling trainers underwater on multiple occasions.

One of the most notable instances was on August 7, 2002. A female trainer named Tamaree was sitting by the edge of a back pool interacting with both Orkid and Splash. In a video taken by a park guest, Tamaree can be seen talking to the whales and repeatedly placing her foot on Orkid’s rostrum and taking it off without another trainer present, which is against safety policies. Before long, Orkid can be seen seizing Tamaree’s foot before pulling her into the water.

According to former trainer John Hargrove in the 2013 documentary Blackfish, another trainer came along, taking a chain off the gate to give the precursor to Orkid that the older and more dominant female Kasatka was coming in. Orkid and Splash then released Tamaree who escaped the incident with nothing more than a broken arm.

Some aggressive incidents have also occurred as a result of trainers preforming artificial insemination procedures on her. Orkid seems to dislike AI procedures, and caused minor injuries to a trainer in 2007 after swiping her head and making contact with him, knocking him over a wall. Orkid has mated naturally with males before, and has been AI’ed numerous times, but so far has failed to become pregnant.