Orkid

***This article contains imagery of graphic injuries and animal death. Viewer discretion is advised.***

## Orkid

Orkid. Photo provided by Hunter D. Photography.

### Official lD

SWC-OO-8826,
NOA0002959

## Physical Traits

### Weights

* 297lb (Sep. 1988)
* 2,000lb (1991)
* 5,700lb (2010)
* 6,000lb (Feb. 2013)
* 6,025lb (2015)

### Lengths

* 7.5ft (Sep. 1988)
* 13ft (1991)
* 18.9ft (2010)
* 19ft (2015)

### Ecotype

50% North Atlantic,
50% Resident

### Population

50% Icelandic,
50% Northern Resident

## Family

### Half-Siblings

*Corky II's Calf (1977)*, *Spooky*, *Corky II's Stillborn (1980)*, *Kiva*, *Corky II's Calf (1985)*, *Kandu V's Stillborn (1986)*, *Corky II's Miscarriage (1986)*, *Corky II's Miscarriage (1987)*, *Kayla*

### Nieces & Nephews

*Halyn*, *Kayla's Miscarriage (2007)*

Orkid *(pronounced OR-kuhd)* is a 35-year-old female hybrid killer whale who currently lives at SeaWorld San Diego. She was born there tail-first on September 23rd, 1988, at 5:25 PM PDT. Her mother is Kandu V, an Icelandic killer whale, and her father is Orky II, a Northern resident killer whale, making Orkid 50% Icelandic and 50% Northern resident. She is considered to be the most intelligent killer whale in captivity due to her large repertoire of complex behaviors. She is also the oldest captive-bred killer whale. Though once extremely close with Corky II, Orkid spends the majority of her time with Shouka and Kalia.

## Birth and Early Life

   Orkid was born tail-first on September 23rd, 1988, at 5:25 PM PDT, at SeaWorld San Diego, to Kandu V. Like most other killer whales born at SeaWorld, she was known as “Baby Shamu”. Her father, Orky passed away three days after her birth, and she was named Orkid (Orky's Kid) in his memory. She was soon introduced to the parks other female whales, Corky and Nootka. Corky, who had lost all 8 of her calves, was especially close to Orkid. This caused tension between the two older females, and Orkid was caught between them. Kandu and Corky had several fights, including one that lead to Kandu leaving a large gash in Corky’s abdomen during a show. Despite the fact that they had enough pools to separate them, SeaWorld continued to keep them together. Their aggression only escalated as time went on.

### Kandu V’s Death

       On the afternoon of August 21st, 1989, Orkid, Corky, and Kandu were performing in a show together when a fatal incident occurred. The three whales were waiting in the back to be sent out to the main pool. Kandu, frustrated with Corky and her close relationship with Orkid, swam towards the other female with her mouth open in an attempt to rake her. Corky swam out of the way, however, and Kandu collided with the pool wall. The impact shattered her upper jaw and severed multiple major arteries in her nasal passage. Kandu and Orkid then swam into the main pool, seemingly fine, before returning to the back pool. It was there that blood began to pour out of her blowhole. The vets arrived only a few minutes after the incident, but there wasn't much that they could do. For 45 horrifying minutes, Orkid watched her mother slowly bleed to death. Every time she surfaced for air, Kandu sent a spray of blood into the air. Orkid stayed by her side entire time. In hopes that being in a smaller pool would limit her movement and lower her blood pressure to induce clotting, Kandu and her daughter were moved to the medical pool. When Kandu began to lose consciousness, she and Orkid were moved back into the main pool for Orkid's safety. Finally, Kandu sank to the bottom of the pool and died. Her now orphaned daughter swam in circles above her lifeless body.

### A Surrogate Mother

    After Kandu’s death, Corky took Orkid under her wing, and became her surrogate mother. In February of 1990, an Icelandic female named Kasatka was moved to the park from San Antonio. She also became a surrogate mother to Orkid. A month later, Nootka passed away. That same month Orkid was involved in a minor aggressive incident when she bumped a trainers head. The following October, Kalina, the original “Baby Shamu”, was moved to the park from Ohio. The four lived together for a few months. Kalina was moved back out in May of the next year to San Antonio, leaving Kasatka, Orkid, and Corky behind. All three whales became very close. In July of 1991, Kasatka gave birth to Takara, her first calf. Orkid, already close to Kasatka, became very close to Takara as well.

## Life at SeaWorld San Diego

    In April of 1992, Splash, a 2 year old male from Marineland of Canada, arrived at SeaWorld San Diego. Splash had epilepsy and had been moved to SeaWorld for better health care. Splash had to be on lots of medications for his seizures. Corky became a surrogate mother to him, and he and Orkid formed a special bond. When Splash had seizures, Orkid would hold him to the surface of the water so that he could breathe.

    In 1994, an adult male named Ulises arrived at the park. Although he and Orkid had trouble at first, they eventually began to become more comfortable with each other. Later that year, in November, Orkid was involved in another aggressive incident when she bumped a trainer's thigh.

In 1995, Splash suffered a seizure and crashed into a gate. Kasatka and Orkid held his body above the surface and helped him breathe. During the ordeal he tore a huge piece of skin off of his jaw. His lower jaw was permanently deformed and he was never able to properly close his mouth after that.

    In 1996, Orkid was involved in four separate aggressive incidents. On January 25th, Orkid opened her mouth at a trainer and mouthed their thigh. On February 9th, she bumped a trainer's thigh, fluked a trainer, and bumped a trainer's body. On July 3rd, she pushed a trainer during dry work. On November 22nd, she head popped a trainer's arm, again during dry work.

In November of 1997, Orkid bumped a trainer's hip during dry work. In June of 1998, she pushed a kayak with a trainer in it. In July, she hit a trainer's stomach with her head after an unsuccessful hydro hop. During re-entry, the trainer hit her flukes with their hand. She responded to this by hitting the trainer.

In March of 1999, two young males, Keto and Sumar, were moved to San Diego from SeaWorld Orlando. Corky yet again became a surrogate mother, this time to Sumar. Sumar became very close with Splash and Orkid.

    In November of the same year, Keet arrived at the park. Keet, Keto, and Sumar all left for SeaWorld Ohio in April of 2000, but Keet and Sumar would return in February of 2001. In April of 2001 Bjossa, an Icelandic female, was moved from the Vancouver Aquarium. She didn’t live long, however, and died the following October.

    On September 1st, 2001, Kasatka had her second calf, a male named Nakai. In May of 2002, Takara gave birth to her first calf, a female named Kohana. Orkid helped to care for both calves. Later that year Orkid was involved in another two aggressive incidents. In July, Orkid was in a training session where she was given the opportunity to pull a trainer into the water by their foot. After the trainer put their foot in Orkid's mouth several times she pulled them into the water and took off their bootie. In August, Orkid and Splash were in a back pool with a female trainer. She was playing with them and repeatedly put her foot on Orkid's rostrum. Although this tactic procedure was not allowed, the trainer continued to put her foot on Orkid anyway. Orkid pulled her into the water and the two whales ignored repeated signals to recall. They eventually left her long enough for her to swim out when the gate to Kasatka's tank was opened and the two whales were distracted.

Two years later, in April of 2004, Takara and Kohana were moved to SeaWorld Orlando. In May of 2004, Orkid bumped a trainer's thigh during dry work. In December, Kasatka gave birth to her third calf, a female named Kalia.

### Splash’s Death

In April of 2005, Splash lost his appetite. He was put on antibiotics. Unfortunately, Splash passed away on the 5th while Sumar and Orkid watched through the gates. A necropsy showed that his cause of death was a perforated stomach, which wouldn't have been helped with antibiotics.  His death greatly affected Orkid.

### Kasatka's Death

Since 2008, Kasatka had been battling a reoccurring bacterial infection for which she had since been getting treatment for. In 2017, Kasatka's health began to decline and she developed prominent skin lesions. Ultimately, Kasatka's trainers made the decision to humanely euthanize Kasatka on August 15th, 2017, to prevent her quality of life from decreasing further. Kasatka passed away surrounded by other members of the SeaWorld San Diego pod.

### Nakai’s Death

In the summer of 2022, Nakai, whom Orkid had become very close with, began to see a decrease in health due to an undetermined infection. After several attempts at treatment, the veterinary team had exhausted all efforts to no avail. Nakai passed away on the night of August 5th, a month shy of his 21st birthday.

## Appearance

    Orkid is the second largest female killer whale at SeaWorld San Diego, surpassed only by Corky. She is stocky and has a rounded head and rostrum. She has a very tall, straight dorsal fin. Her eyepatches are sloped downward, almost giving her the appearance of "sad" or "worried" eyebrows due to their placement. Neither eyepatch has any obvious freckles or markings. They both are very full and rounded at the front and then taper to a "V" shape at the back. Her right eyepatch is large and has two blunt points on the front that extend over her eye. Her left eyepatch is thinner and the front is square-shaped instead of pointed. Both mouth chips are very prominent and wave-shaped. The right mouth chip vaguely resembles her father's but is much more rounded. She has an open saddle patch. It is bright and the long part at the bottom is very obvious. Her shoulder marks are pointed but do not go very far above her pectoral fins.

## Behavioral Incidents

Orkid has a history of aggression towards trainers and has been involved in more incidents than any other captive killer whale.

## Personality

    Although she is a dominant whale, she gets along well with all of the other orcas at the park. Because Kasatka was a surrogate mother to her, she is very close to Kasatka’s family. Prior to his death, Orkid was often paired with Nakai and seemed to enjoy his presence. A trainer described their bond as such: "[Nakai] likes a lot of things... especially one other killer whale and that's Orkid. If you ever see Nakai in the pool, there's a very good chance Orkid's hanging out right next to him."  She has had lots of experience caring for calves but has never had any of her own. There have supposedly been multiple attempts to get her pregnant but none of them have been successful. Orkid is extremely intelligent and is considered to be the most intelligent killer whale in captivity. She is known for combining multiple behaviors at once and creating entirely new behaviors, such as her revahue. Notably, she is very good at hunting and catching birds.

## Trivia

* Orkid's name is an amalgam of the phrase "Orky's kid," referring to the fact that she is the daughter of Orky. A similar phenomenon can be seen with the original Shamu, who's name came from "She-namu," as she was captured as a mate for Namu.

## Transfer History

*Orkid has never been transferred out of SeaWorld San Diego.*

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Orkid
* **Videos** of Orkid

## References

1. ↑ SeaWorld Orca Profile- Killer Whale Orkid 2010
2. ↑ Splash's Profile
3. ↑ Orkid's Profile
4. ↑ Orca Encounter (Full Show) - 17 June 2019 [1]
*This page was last updated on: Aug. 7, 2023*