Goro

- TWM-00-C8503 (Released 1985)

- Nami\* (Deceased 2011)

## Naming

### Origin of Name

- Japanese for "Five"- Goro's ID at Adventure World Shirahama was "0-5", therefore getting the name.

## Transfer History

### Transfer #1

October of 1985 - Taiji, Japan, to the Taiji Whale Museum.

### Transfer #2

2nd of November, 1985 - Taiji Whale Museum to Adventure World Shirahama.

## Ecotype

### Total

100% Japanese

Goro(ゴロー) was a 19-20 year old male Japanese killer whale who lived at Adventure World Shirahama. He was captured in October of 1985 in Taiji, Japan, and died on the 21st of January, 2005, from Acute Pneumonia.

## Capture

In October of 1985, a total of 5 whales were caught in Taiji, Japan. After their capture, they were all shipped to the Taiji Whale Museum, where three of the whales, not living long enough in captivity to receive official names, were released. The two youngest ones, however, were put up for sale. Out of the duo was a young female named Nami, who turned out to be very aggressive. The other was a very little male, only around a year old or even younger at the time. Only a month after his capture, he was sold to Adventure World Shirahama on the 2nd of November, 1985. There he received his name, Goro.

## To Nanki

Upon arriving at his new home, Goro met Ruka and Benkei. Although Ruka was captured in Iceland and Benkei was also Japanese like Goro, the three got along well. In 1989, Benkei passed away. To "keep their tanks full", Nanki bought two orcas from the last Icelandic capture and they later arrived in around 1990. The two females, Ran and Ai, soon joined Goro and Ruka in shows. The stadium eventually got small and a new one was built. Unfortunately, Ai passed away in 1995, postponing the move(which was supposed to happen in 1995) and leaving Nanki in search of more whales.

## The Taiji 5

   In 1997, three whales arrived at the park from Taiji, Japan. These orcas were commonly known as the “Taiji 5”. The female, nicknamed "A-chan", gave birth to a miscarriage in April but survived. Unfortately, the youngest male, nicknamed "B-kun", believed to be the son of A-chan, had a week immune system and died on the 14th of June, 1997. 3 days later, A-chan also died. It is not known if Goro ever met any of these whales, or if they got to preform in shows. Quickly after the two deaths, the remaining 4 orcas were forced to quarantine in the back pools so the main how pool could be redone. This was mainly to prevent the "survivors" from dying or getting sick.

The last orca, who was a male later to be named Kyu, was originally meant for breeding purposes as a agreement with the Japanese Fisheries Agency and didn't preform in shows. Goro, having a loyal personality, was often seen with him before Kyu started doing shows in 1999. The two became very close, but unfortunately for the park, Goro became stressed when separated from Kyu. As a result, Kyu began to perform in events, as well as being old enough to breed with the two older females.

## Ran and Ruka

Only one year later, in March of 2000, long time resident Ruka sank(died) right after a show. Although Adventure World always purchased more orcas after one had died, none were up for sale as the previous capture was in 1997(besides Nami, however she was still incredibly aggressive against trainers). Later, on the 1st of August, 2001, Ran and Goro were doing a waterwork session in a show when Ran snapped from her trainer. When signaled to do another behavior, she started swimming towards Goro and his trainer, who were heading to the stage. Goro backed up, not wanting to get attakced from Ran's open mouth, while his trainer fell off. Ran ended up hitting the trainers right thigh, fracturing it.

## A Lonely Calf

In May if 2003, Adventure World hopes raised when Ran was soon found to be pregnant. The park planned to build a fence separating the males and Ran plus her calf, but she gave birth a month early on the 26th of August, 2004 due to an infection. With the father being Kyu, Ran showed no interest in the female calf and vocaled whenever it got close to her. Following her instincts, the calf followed its mother and found its way past the fence, which was only a net as it wasn't built yet. She later got stuck in a gap between the gate, and to make things worse, Kyu grabbed the calf and thrashed her around. He later got her unstuck and went to the main show pool where he chilled. Goro swam and was gentle to the calf(photo at the bottom of the page), but unfortunately, she passed away on the 27th from a broken skull caused by Kyu. On the 29th, Ran succumbed to her illnesses.

## Death

Despite all the troubles, Nanki continued to do events in order to keep the whales active. Kyu passed away in mid September, which left Goro alone. For around three months, he continued to do well and befriended a Bottlenose Dolphin. On the 18th of January, his behavior minorly changed, until the 20th when he became a bit unresponsive. On the 21st of January, 2005, Goro's breathing became fast and he continuously bumped into the tank walls. Trainers dove into the water and gave him antibiotic treatments and fluids, but a few minutes after the treatments finished, Goro passed away at 1:20pm. The cause of death was Acute Pneumonia. While he lived alone, it was in thought that he could possibly join Ku at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium for breeding purposes. He could have also joined his pod mate, Nami, who was still living at the Taiji Whale Museum. Goro passed away before any agreements were made, however.

## Personality

Goro was a sweet and loving whale. He would often get his entire body out of the water during shows, a common thing that most male killer whales are not known to do. He did great with trainers in the water and was never aggressive to them or other whales. Goro was the most noticeable whale, with his dorsal collapsed down to his right. His eye patches were known to look sad, of which were curving upward. Despite how large he was, Goro seemed to do well while living at Nanki.

## 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.

    **Photos provided by Kimmy Vengeance.**

    **Photo provided by HaH.**

    **Photos by Lola Ponce.**

    **Photos by Adventure World Shirahama, provided by Orcaloverw.**

    **Photos by Adventure World Shirahama, provided by Tigger.**

    **Photos by Adventure World Shirahama.**

## References/Sources

1. ↑ "Marine Mammal Inventory Report"
2. ↑ "Adventure World (Part II): Wishing For Orcas"