Kamea

Sakari on Nov. 4, 2023. Photo provided by EchoBeluga.

### Half-Siblings

*Belén's Stillborn (1998)*, *Belén's Unborn Calf (2000)*, *Kohana*, Trua, Sakari, Makani, *Kyara*

### Aunts & Uncles

*Kahana's Miscarriage (1990)*, *Kenau's Unborn Calf (1991)*, *Samoa's Stillborn (1992)*, Keet, *Haida II's Calf (1994)*, Keto, *Nakai*, Kalia, Makani

### Cousins

Kalia, *Halyn*, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, Adán, *Victoria*, *Amaya*, *Ula*

Kamea *(pronounced kuh-MEH-ah)* is a 10-year-old female hybrid killer whale who lives at SeaWorld San Antonio. She was born there tail-first on December 6th, 2013, at 12:08 AM CST. Her mother is Takara, an Icelandic killer whale, and her father is Kshamenk, an Argentinian killer whale, through artificial insemination, making Kamea 50% Icelandic, 50% Argentinian. She is the youngest and smallest killer whale at SeaWorld San Antonio.

## Birth and Early Life

Kamea's mother Takara was born at SeaWorld San Diego in July of 1991. Takara gave birth to her first calf, Kohana, in 2002. In 2004 Takara was moved to SeaWorld Orlando, and in 2005 she gave birth to her second calf, Trua. Just a few months later Kohana was separated from her mother and moved away. In 2008 Takara became pregnant again, and in 2009 she was separated from Trua and moved to SeaWorld San Antonio. She gave birth to her third calf Sakari in 2010. Takara was an excellent mother to all of her calves and she never had any issues caring for them. Takara also helped many other females care for their calves.

In 2011, Takara was artificially inseminated with sperm from an Argentinian killer whale named Kshamenk. Although she became pregnant, she suffered a miscarriage about 8 months later in 2012. She was artificially inseminated for a second time 3 months after that and she once again became pregnant.

In the evening of December 5th, 2013, Takara went into labor. A little over an hour later, at 12:08 am CST on December 6th, Kamea was born. Like most other killer whales she was born tail-first. Takara, already an experienced mother, took excellent care of her newborn daughter. Within a few hours Kamea began to nurse.  Even at just a few days old Kamea was already energetic and a strong swimmer.  At the time of Kamea's birth, 5 other whales lived at the park: her mother, her sister Sakari, an adult female named Unna, and 2 adult males named Kyuquot and Tuar.

Although she spent the first few days of her life alone with her mother, she was eventually introduced the park's other whales. Less than 2 weeks after her birth, on December 17th, she and her mother were introduced to Sakari and Unna. The introduction went very well and the 4 were soon living together.  Not long after that she met Ky and Tuar.

## Life at SeaWorld San Antonio

As Kamea grew older, she began to become more independent. She started to feature in shows by as early as 3 months old.  By 4 old she was mimicking behaviors during shows,  and by 7 months old she was actively participating in them alongside her mother.  She spent a lot of time with Sakari, Takara, and Unna, although she could be seen with Ky and Tuar as well. In 2015, Unna’s health started to deteriorate  and in December she passed away.

In April of 2016, Sakari and Kamea were involved in an incident with each other. During a "Dine with Shamu" show they were separated from Takara. The two young whales reportedly started fighting and Sakari emerged from the water with blood on her chin.

### Kyara

In March of 2017 SeaWorld announced that Takara was pregnant.  Just a few weeks later on April 19th, Takara gave birth to Kyara, the last killer whale to be born at SeaWorld.  Kyara’s birth got international attention and many people instantly fell in love with her. Like always, Takara took very good care of her, and soon Kamea and Sakari were introduced to their new little sister.  The four of them were very close and spent a lot of time together.  At just a few weeks old Kyara was already very active and mimicking her mom and sisters, and by 3 months old she was showing interest in the trainers.   She even allowed trainers to touch her.  Sadly, in late July, Kyara developed pneumonia and had to be separated from her mother and sisters for treatment. She was moved to the Animal Care Center for more intensive care.  She passed away there on July 24th, 2017, at just over 3 months old.  Although all of the whales were reportedly deeply affected by her loss, they seemed to be recovering by the end of July.

### COVID-19

In late 2019 a novel coronavirus disease known as "COVID-19" was discovered, and it quickly began to spread across the world. In March of 2020 the World Health Organization declared that it had become a pandemic.  On March 16th all of the SeaWorld parks, including San Antonio, were temporarily closed in order to prevent the spread of the virus.  Although staff at SeaWorld San Diego began to wear masks before the closure,  this was not true for the staff at SeaWorld San Antonio.  San Antonio’s staff members did not start to wear masks until the closure.  Masks were a new experience for the whales and, like many other animals in zoos across the country, they likely had to get used to their trainers wearing them.  During the closure no shows occurred and the whales did not have access to guests. After being closed for just 3 months, on June 19th, 2020, SeaWorld San Antonio opened back up again.

### Current Day

Kamea currently lives with her mother, her older sister, Tuar and Ky at SeaWorld San Antonio. She spends most of her time with Takara and Sakari, and usually performs with them in shows. Her father still lives in Mundo Marino. She has relatives at both of the other SeaWorld parks, as well as at Loro Parque. Her half-brother and uncle Makani and her aunt Kalia both live at SeaWorld San Diego. Her older brother Trua lives at SeaWorld Orlando. Her nephew, Adán, lives at Loro Parque.

## Personality

Kamea is a very curious whale. She enjoys secondary reinforcements, and they're almost as reinforcing to her as food. Like her mother and older sister, she enjoys visual stimulation. She also enjoys surprises. She finds it very engaging when trainers jump out at her or interrupt her during a behavior. Kamea loves to watch and interact with guests.

## Appearance

Kamea is the smallest whale at SeaWorld San Diego. Despite the fact that Kamea is half Argentinian she looks very Icelandic. She has light blue eyes. The front of her right ocular notch (eyepatch) is extremely smooth and has only two tiny "fingers" at the top. There is a small freckle at the front of her eyepatch, at the front and close to the bottom of it. Much like her mother she has another, fainter freckle it in the center. Her left eyepatch has a small, but still pronounced, "finger" that stretches above her eye. The front of her left eyepatch is very similar to Takara and Kotar’s, but less distinguishable. There is also a tiny freckle about halfway along the top. Both eyepatches taper to a pointy V-shape at the back, although the left one is more curved. The back of her right eyepatch is slightly smudged. She has a closed saddle patch that is noticeable darker than her mother and sister’s. Both of her subocular notches (mouth chips) are very small and smooth. There is a tiny, faint freckle behind her left mouth chip. Along her mouth she has very little white on her upper jaw. Her shoulder notches are small and pointy, and stick out over her pectoral fins. There is a light freckle on her anterior ventral field behind her left pectoral fin. The front of her chin is very brown. The edges of her flank and fluke field are very smooth. Although it is growing taller, due to her age Kamea’s dorsal fin is still very small and rounded. Her dorsal fin is not collapsed in any way.

## Trivia

* Kamea is a Hawaiian name that means "precious one"  or "the one".
* Her name was announced by SeaWorld on February 3rd, 2014.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Kamea
* **Videos** of Kamea

## Transfer History

*Kamea has never been transferred out of SeaWorld San Antonio.*

## References

1. ↑ Orca Encounter, May 2021
2. ↑ "Former trainers decry possible orca pregnancy at SeaWorld"
3. ↑ "Baby Shamu | SeaWorld San Antonio" by SeaWorld San Antonio on YouTube
4. ↑ "Shamu and baby" by Tim Goodenough on YouTube
5. ↑ "Baby Orca" by Tim Goodenough on YouTube
6. ↑ "Takara & Kamea - One Ocean Frolic (March 2014)" by TessOrca on YouTube
7. ↑ "SWT - Takara, Sakari & Kamea Front Bows - 4/5/2014" by Saddie Spookei on YouTube
8. ↑ "Takara, Sakari, & Kamea. - July 4,2014 One Ocean SeaWorld San Antonio" by animallover on YouTube
9. ↑ "Why is SeaWorld Announcing Unna's Bladder Infection to the World?"
10. ↑ "SeaWorld killer whale dies at San Antonio park"
11. ↑ "These photos are from an(...)" by Kassy (loveroforcas) on Instagram
12. ↑ "SeaWorld San Antonio Has A Special Announcement!" by SeaWorld® Parks & Entertainment on YouTube
13. ↑ "This baby killer whale is the last one born at SeaWorld"
14. ↑ "Welcome to the pod little(...)" by SeaWorld on Facebook
15. ↑ "A Very Special Birthday At SeaWorld®" by SeaWorld® Parks & Entertainment on YouTube
16. ↑ "Better Quality: Takara, 6-week-old Kyara, Sakari, Kamea - Dine with Shamu (June 2017)" by TessOrca on YouTube
17. ↑ "Takara, 6-week-old Kyara, Sakari, Kamea - One Ocean Clips (June 2017)" by Tess Orca on YouTube
18. ↑ "Ever wonder what it’s like(...)" by SeaWorld on Facebook
19. ↑ "Takara’s 3-month-old calf, Kyara,(...)" by SeaWorld on Facebook
20. ↑ "Friends and Fans of SeaWorld(...)" by SeaWorld on Facebook
21. ↑ "Thank you from SeaWorld San Antonio's Killer Whale team" by SeaWorld on Facebook
22. ↑ "Timeline: WHO's COVID-19 response"
23. ↑ "SeaWorld temporarily closes all theme parks over coronavirus fears"
24. ↑ "10/03/2020: SeaWorld San Diego's Orca Encouter during COVID19 at Spooktacular (4k) - Full Show @ 1pm" by Mr. & Mrs. Theme Park on YouTube
25. ↑ "SeaWorld San Antonio March 2020 Footage (feat. Texas Stingray!)" by Coasters N' Things on YouTube
26. ↑ "San Antonio’s SeaWorld, Six Flags theme parks drop mask rules for vaccinated employees"
27. ↑ "Virtual Visit: Marine Mammal Mask(…)" New England Aquarium on Facebook
28. ↑ "Update on SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Operations"
29. ↑ Trainer testimony, May 2021, via @oceanflukes on Twitter
30. ↑ Kamea: Name Meaning, Popularity and Info on BabyNames.com
31. ↑ Kameāloha - Wiktionary
32. ↑ Cetacean Cousins: Captive Orca - Kamea's Profile