Tekoa

Tekoa. Photo provided by Diva Flora (dikagrafia).

### Half-Siblings

Kyuquot, *Nootka IV's Calf (1992)*, *Taku*, *Nyar*, *Nootka IV's Stillborn (1994)*, *Gudrun's Stillborn (1996)*, *Unna*, *Kalina's Stillborn (1997)*, Tuar, *Haida II's Unborn Calf (2001)*, *Nakai*, *Kohana*, Ikaika, *Skyla*, Sakari, Makaio

### Aunts & Uncles

*T007A "Arrow"*, T007B "Spiller", *Kona II's Unborn Calf (1987)*, *Katerina*, *T007C "Blunden"*, *Nyar*, *Gudrun's Stillborn (1996)*,

### Nieces & Nephews

Trua, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, Nalani, *Unna's Miscarriage (2009)*, Adán, *Victoria*, *Kyara*

### Cousins

*T007B1*, *T007B2*, T007B3 "Knox", T007B4 "Moonraker", *T007B5*, T007B6 "Domino", T007B7

Tekoa (*pronounced te-KOH-ah)* is a 23-year-old male killer whale who currently lives at Loro Parque. He was born tail-first on November 8th, 2000 at SeaWorld Orlando. His mother is Taima and his father is Tilikum. Tekoa was transferred to Loro Parque in 2006 and has remained there ever since.

## Early Life

A few months after birth, Tekoa had to be separated from his mother, Taima, after she became increasingly aggressive towards him. This was not the first time that a calf of Taima had to be separated from her due to aggression. Sumar, Taima's firstborn and Tekoa's full brother, had to be separated from Taima months after his birth for the very same reason. Some believe her aggressive outbursts towards her calves may have been the result of her witnessing her own mother, Gudrun, attack and attempt to drown her physically and mentally handicapped calf, Nyar. After Tekoa and Taima were separated, Tekoa continued to be raised by Kalina, an older female with experience raising calves. Tekoa would often pair up with Tuar, his half-brother, and the two became close companions.

## Life at SeaWorld San Antonio

On April 25, 2004, Tekoa and Tuar were loaded on to a transport vehicle together and flown to San Antonio, Texas, where they met Keto, Keet, Kyuquot, Kayla, and Unna. In 2006, Tekoa and Keto were separated from the rest of the San Antonio pod and transported to Loro Parque, a zoo on the Canary Islands, with two other whales (Skyla and Kohana) from other SeaWorld parks.

## Life at Loro Parque

Tekoa and Keto, along with Kohana and Skyla, arrived in Loro Parque on February 14th, 2006. All four whales had been separated from their mothers at a very young age and thus the social structure of this newly formed group remained rough for the first years. Aggression between the whales became frequent and, due to his low status within the social structure, Tekoa often became the punching bag between the four. Several attempts were made by Loro Parque officials to return Tekoa to SeaWorld due to the continuous harassment by the other whales, but all requests were denied. Although the social structure of the group has slightly improved since, Tekoa is still frequently observed covered in rake marks from the other whales. He is often paired with Morgan, and Adán, the other less dominant whales in the group. He was regularly harassed by the parks two females, Kohana and Skyla, who have both since passed away as of September 2022.

## Behavioral Incidents

* Tekoa, along with Tuar, was involved in a minor incident in 2000 where the two swam over a surfaced trainer during waterworks at SeaWorld Orlando.
* During a pre-show rehearsal in 2007, Tekoa crashed into trainer Claudia Vollhardt while the two were preforming a waterwork behavior dubbed a ''foot-push'' where the whale pushes the trainer around the water with their feet on the whales rostrum. While preforming this behavior, Tekoa reportedly pulled Vollhardt underwater, dragging her to the bottom of the pool and then back up to the surface again several times until she was removed from the water by two colleagues. Vollhardt, who suffered a broken forearm in two places and an injured right lung, was immediately hospitalized following the incident but quickly became stable. Vollhardt started a job at Loro Parque in 2003 and had been working with Tekoa for one year when the incident occurred. She remained working at Orca Ocean after the incident. All waterworks with Tekoa were immediately ceased and a protocol was put in place which prohibited any non-senior trainer to work with him thereafter.

## Trivia

* He is often nicknamed 'Tek' or 'Koa'
* Tekoa has wild Bigg's transient relatives through his grandfather, Kanduke.

## Transfer History

Tekoa's Transfer History
 SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas

## Gallery

* Photos of Tekoa
* Videos of Tekoa

## References

1. ↑ https://inherentlywild.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/swprofiles3.pdf