Hyak II

Hyak II. Photo provided by Cassie.

Hyak II *(pronounced HYE-ak)*, also known as Tung-Jen, was an approximately 24-year-old male Northern resident killer whale who lived at the Vancouver Aquarium. He was captured on April 26, 1968 from Pender Harbor, British Columbia at approximately 1 year old. Hyak passed away due to pneumonia on February 16, 1991 at the Vancouver Aquarium. He was believed to be the son of Natsidalia.

## Early Life & Capture

Hyak was a Northern Resident killer whale, and part of the A5 pod. He was born sometime around 1967. His mother is believed to be Natsidalia. As a Northern Resident, he would have probably spent most of his life in the waters around Canada and northern Washington. At some point he likely started to learn how to hunt Chinook salmon, the Northern Resident's main food source. He may have traveled with his family to "rubbing beaches", pebble beaches in British Columbia where Northern Residents go to rub against the rocks.

On April 26th, 1968, Hyak and his mother, along with 5 other members of their pod, Bonnie, Kianu, Orky II, Corky and Irving, were captured in Pender Harbor, British Columbia. All 7 whales were moved to a sea pen in Garden Bay.  The Vancouver Aquarium soon purchased Hyak and Natsidalia.  On April 29th, Hyak and his mother were moved into a separate pen in Garden Bay with another whale, "Cecil". Cecil was likely also a Northern Resident, and had been captured a few months earlier in February. He was already adjusted to captivity, and the aquarium hoped that he would encourage Natsidalia to eat.

The rest of the whales were soon soon to various marine parks. Orky and Corky were purchased by Marineland of the Pacific, and they moved there a few weeks after their capture. Bonnie and Kianu were sold to Marine World, but they wouldn't leave the bay until June. At some point. SeaWorld agreed to purchase Irving, but they dropped out last minute.  Irving was almost released, although Vancouver Aquarium purchased him instead.

Unfortunately, as time passed Hyak stopped nursing, and he refused to eat herring. By June he was incredibly weak and required bottle feeding. At some point before August, once he had regained his strength, Hyak was moved to the Vancouver Aquarium.

The whales left behind in Garden Bay- Irving, Cecil and Natsidalia- did not remain there for long. Irving escaped in September, and Hyak's mother passed away in November. Cecil was released by an unknown party in February of the following year.

## Life at the Vancouver Aquarium

Although the Vancouver Aquarium already had a killer whale- a young female named Skana- Hyak was not immediately introduced to her. Instead he lived in the aquarium's research pool, a smaller pool out of view of the public.

Eventually Hyak was introduced to Skana and Diane, a Pacific white-sided dolphin.

## Behavioral Incidents

There was an undocumented report of Hyak breaking a trainer's leg by hitting it with his tail fluke in the 70's.

## Relatives in Captivity

Hyak was likely related to the other whales that he was captured with. Bonnie and Kianu were pregnant when captured, but they both unfortunately lost their calves a few months after capture. Bonnie had a stillbirth in July, and she died just a few days later. Kianu had a stillborn in August, but she lived until 1980. Corky died in 1980, although Orky lived in captivity for several more decades. While in captivity, Orky sired at least 9 calves: an unnamed calf in 1977, Spooky in 1978, a stillborn in 1980, Kiva in 1982, an unnamed calf in 1985, a misarrange in 1986, a miscarriage in 1987, and Orkid and Kayla in 1988. Kayla went on to have a calf of her own in 2005, Halyn, as well as a miscarriage in 2007. Orkid is currently Orky's only descendant alive. Hyak may have been related to any of these whales.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Hyak II
* **Videos** of Hyak II

## Transfer History

**Hyak II's Transfer History**
 Garden Bay Sea Pen, Canada

## References

1. ↑ "7 Killer Whales Penned at Once"
2. ↑ "Killer whales to Vancouver"
3. ↑ "Aquarium's Whale Gets Pen Pals"
4. ↑ "Whale Deal Falls Through"
5. ↑ "Vancouver Buys 5th Whale"
6. ↑ *Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator*
7. ↑ "Whale Freed by Vandals"