Katina

Katina. Photo provided by ceta.cean.

### Grand-Children

Keet, Keto, *Kalina's Stillborn (1997)*, Tuar, *Skyla*, Trua, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, Nalani, *Unna's Miscarriage (2009)*

### Great Grand-Children

Kalia, *Halyn*, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, *Kayla's Miscarriage (2007)*, , *Unna's Miscarriage (2009)*, Adán, *Victoria*, *Ula*

### Great Great Grand-Children

*Amaya*

Katina *(pronounced kah-TEE-nah)*, also known as Kandu VI *(KAN-doo)*, is an approximately 47-year-old female Icelandic killer whale who currently lives at SeaWorld Orlando. She is the matriarch of the Orlando pod. Katina was captured on October 17th, 1978 near Skaftárós, Iceland at approximately 2 years old. Katina is well known as the most successful breeding female orca in captivity. She is the mother of Kalina, the first killer whale successfully born and raised in captivity, as well as Katerina, Taku, Unna, Ikaika, Nalani and Makaio. She is the second-oldest killer whale in human care, surpassed only by Corky II.

## Capture and Early Life

   Katina was born in the waters of the North Atlantic sometime around 1976. On October 17th, 1978, Katina was captured in the Meðallandsbugt bight, near Skaftárós, Iceland along with two other killer whales, Kakela and an unnamed male. Like other orcas captured at the time, Katina was very young, estimated to only be around 2 years of age. The three young whales were moved to a sea pen in Grindavik harbor where they met Kotar, Kahana and Kasatka.  About a week after their arrival, Kakela, Kahana, Kotar and Kasatka were loaded onto a plane and sent to America.

After the other whales left Katina and the unnamed male were likely moved to the Hafnarfjörður Aquarium. At some point in November Katina was moved to Marineland of Canada.  Katina may have met several unnamed whales who were captured in November and also moved to Hafnarfjörður, or she may have moved out before they arrived.

   At Marineland Canada, Katina met two Bigg's Killer Whales, Kanduke and Nootka, and a Southern Resident from L Pod, Kandu II. It was here that she was given the name Kandu VI. The four whales lived together for about 9 months.

## Life at SeaWorld

In the spring of 1979, Katina was purchased by SeaWorld. On June 21st, 1979, Katina was moved to SeaWorld Ohio. At SeaWorld Ohio, she met two other wild-caught Icelandic females, Kandu V and Kenau. At the end of the summer season, the three whales were moved to SeaWorld San Diego. At San Diego, she reunited with Kasatka and Kotar. For the next few years, Katina, along with Kasatka, would be transferred to SeaWorld Ohio in the spring and then moved back down south to SeaWorld San Diego in the fall. In the early spring of 1984, Katina became pregnant. The father was Winston, a Southern Resident from L Pod who had recently been transferred from Windsor Safari Park in England. While at Ohio later that year, her pregnancy was discovered. At the end of the season she and Kasatka were moved to SeaWorld Orlando rather than back to SeaWorld San Diego because of Katina's pregnancy.

## SeaWorld Orlando

   Katina and Kasatka arrived at SeaWorld Orlando on November 23rd, 1984. Katina was reunited with Kahana and Kotar, and met Kona II, another wild-caught Icelandic female. Katina and Kona II became very close, and would often do waterworks together. On September 26th of the following year, Katina finally gave birth to her first calf. The baby, named Kalina, was the first killer whale calf to be born and successfully thrive in human care. Many other calves had been born in captivity prior to this, but none of them had survived past the first couple weeks. Katina and her new daughter made international headlines.

Although Kalina was only her first calf, Katina was a very good mother. Katina was very close to her daughter. Kona II taught Katina how to nurse and would often help her care for Kalina. The three whales frequently spent time together, and Kalina was close to Kona II. Kalina would oftenbe kept with Kona II when her mother wasn't around.

    In January of 1987, Katina was reunited with Kanduke when he was moved in from Marineland Canada. Katina became pregnant again shortly after his arrival. Later that year, Kona II, who was also pregnant, passed away. A month later, another Icelandic female named Gudrun was moved to SeaWorld Orlando. Katina was reportedly very aggressive with her when she arrived.

Katina give birth to her second daughter, Katerina, on November 4th, 1988. For several years, Katina raised Katerina with the help of Kalina, teaching her how to be a mother. On February 12th, 1990, Kalina was sent to SeaWorld Ohio, separating her from her Katina. Katina reportedly reacted very strongly to this separation, spending the night alone in the corner of the pool, shivering and crying out for her daughter. Only a year later in April of 1991, Katerina was also moved to SeaWorld Ohio and separated from her mother.

    In January of 1992, an Icelandic male named Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld Orlando from a park in Canada. Tilikum was a very submissive whale, and Katina acted very dominantly towards him. Not long after, however, Katina became pregnant again. On September 9th, 1993, Katina gave birth to her first son, Taku. Taku would be Tilikum's first calf at SeaWorld. Taku and Katina were very close.

On October 29th, 1994, Katina was reunited with her daughter Kalina. The two were not as close as they had been before the separation, but Kalina still spent a lot of time with her mother. 9 months after her arrival, Kalina gave birth to her second calf, Keto. While a few years later Katerina passed away on May 5, 1999 from bacterial pneumonia.

Katina bred with Tilikum and would give birth to her fourth calf, a female named Unna on December 27, 1996. While Unna would assisting Katina in those years, Unna was eventually moved to Texas. Then Katina would mate again with Tilikum giving birth to Unna's second brother Ikaika. Ikaika had become close with his brother Taku and would be seen performing with their mother. Ikaika was then moved to Marineland Canada.

Taku would eventually meet Takara and her daughter Kohana who had moved to Orlando soon before. Taku would mate with Takara giving birth to his first calf Trua on November 23, 2005. Taku would mate with his mother and give birth to his second calf named Nalani on September 18, 2006. Nalani became the first inbred orca to be born in captivity, despite of this she shows no signs of being inbred. Taku was moved to Seaworld San Antonio reuniting with his sister Unna and nephew Tuar. Taku became close to his other nephew Keet. Taku had fallen ill to pneumonia and passed away on October of 2007.

Katina bred for the last time with Tilikum and became pregnant and give birth to a calf named Makaio on October 9, 2010. Who was born just days after Katina's first and oldest calf Kalina had passed away on October 4, 2010 from an bacteremia septicemia. While on December 27, 2015 Unna passed away from systemic bacterial infection. In 2018, Katina suffered an injury to her dorsal fin. It's not known how this was caused, however many people have speculated it was a gate injury, or was caused by Trua. SeaWorld did treat it, however the injury seems to be a permanent mark as Katina can be seen with it today.

Katina performed waterwork up until all waterwork was stopped in 2010. She rarely showed aggression, with only a few behavioral incidents to her name. She mouthed a trainer's waist in 1989, bumped trainers three times from 1992 to 1994, and pushed a trainer in 1995.

## Personality

Katina's most obvious personality trait is her seemingly endless energy during presentations, as well as her athleticism. She is SeaWorld Orlando's "highest flier" in terms of breach height. It's not uncommon for her body to launch a staggering ~20 feet out of the water when completing center belly breaches or perimeter breaches. Another behavior that Katina seems to enjoy is the "speed swim," in which she swims the entire perimeter of the show pool at peak speed, her dorsal fin creating a cyclone of water. Katina's enthusiasm during sessions or presentations can be noted by her tendency to approach trainers with her mouth open and/or her tongue sticking out. Prior to the phasing out of waterworks and close-contact interactions, Katina found mouth tactile to be particularly reinforcing, so this may be why. Despite her excitability, Katina can also be a very assertive, self-assured animal. According to trainers, she is quick to correct problematic behaviors during sessions and presentations, even going as far as to redirect Nalani back into the show pool mid-presentation.

## Trivia

* Katina's name means "pure" in Greek.
* Katina's nicknames are "Tina" (*pronounced TEE-nuh*), "Kat", and "Momma."
* Katina's birthday is celebrated annually on June 1st.
* While in captivity, Katina has lived with at least 37 different whales from 3 different ecotypes.
* When she was younger, Katina lived with various smaller dolphin species such as bottlenose dolphins, pacific white sided dolphins, false killer whales, pilot whales, and belugas off and on over the years. From 2017 to 2019, she lived with pilot whales in Shamu Stadium, although they were never kept directly together.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Katina
* **Videos** of Katina

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Háhyrningarnir eru orðnir sex"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cetacean Cousins - Katina's Profile