Ulises

Ulises. Photo provided by Hunter D. Photography.

Ulises (*pronounced yu-LISS-ees or oo-LEE-says*), also occasionally spelled Ulisses or Ulysses, is an approximately 45-year-old male Icelandic killer whale who lives at SeaWorld San Diego. Ulises was captured near Reyðarfjörður, Iceland, on November 7th, 1980, at approximately 3 years old. He has sired 2 calves, Moana and Amaya. Ulises is the oldest male orca in captivity.

## Capture and Early Life

Ulises was born in the waters of the North Atlantic sometime around 1977. On November 7th, 1980, when he was about 3 years old, Ulises was captured near Reydarfjördur, Iceland. He was loaded onto the *Guðrún*, the infamous Icelandic capture boat. Ulises was only one of dozens of young killer whales that was captured by the *Guðrún*.  After traveling on the boat for about a day, Ulises arrived at the Hafnarfjörður Aquarium. There, Ulises met another recently captured killer whale, Benkei II. Over the next few days, the pair was introduced to 3 other whales: Vigga on the 11th, and Finna and Bjossa on the 15th.

## Life at Zoo Barcelona

On December 17th, after living in captivity for just over a month, Ulises was moved to the Rio León Safari, a privately-owned zoo and waterpark in Vendrell, Spain. Not much is known about his time there. After just 2 years, however, the park could no longer afford to care for Ulises, and the decision was made to send him to the Barcelona Zoo.

In July of 1983, Ulises was moved to Barcelona. At the Barcelona Zoo, Ulises was kept in zoo's Aquarama habitat with several bottlenose dolphins. He was the zoo's only orca.  During his time living with bottlenose dolphins, Ulises learned how to mimic their vocalizations, although he still retained most of his natal language.

Ulises' habitat in Barcelona was small, only 72 feet long and 16 feet deep, and over time he began to develop behavioral issues. He started to chew on his tongue and chase his dolphin companions, and he became aggressive towards his caregivers, sometimes biting them while they attempted to clean the tank.  While at the Barcelona Zoo, Ulises developed an aversion to SCUBA divers, as well as an aversion to physical contact between his trainers and other people.  The Barcelona Zoo considered sending him to SeaWorld San Diego temporarily while they renovated the habitat, but activists lobbied to have him returned to Iceland. Ultimately, it was decided to permanently send Ulises to SeaWorld San Diego.

## Life at SeaWorld

On February 9th, 1994, Ulises arrived at SeaWorld San Diego. At the time of his arrival, the park had 5 other killer whales: 2 adult females, Kasatka and Corky II, 2 juvenile females, Takara and Orkid, and a juvenile male, Splash. This was the first time that Ulises had seen other killer whales in over 13 years.  Although Ulises seemed to do well with most of the other whales, including the park's dominant female Kasatka, he was extremely aggressive towards Corky.  The aggression became serious enough that Corky began to "shut down" if she was kept alone with Ulises, and Kasatka had to always be kept with them to protect Corky. Ulises could also be aggressive towards Splash. Not long after his move to SeaWorld, Ulises started to be used in waterworks during shows. Although he had showed some aggression towards trainers while living in Barcelona, he seemed to do much better at SeaWorld. Ulises even appeared to enjoy doing waterworks.  At some point Ulises grew somewhat close to Orkid.

Over the next few years, as Takara grew older, she became more dominant towards Ulises, especially when her mother was around, although there were never any serious issues between her and Ulises.

In 1999, 3 more young males moved to the park: Keto and Sumar in March, and Keet in November, although they all left again in April of the following year. In February of 2001, however, Sumar and Keet returned. A few months later, in April, Ulises was reunited with Bjossa. Their reunion was short-lived, however, as Bjossa passed away the following October. In September, Kasatka gave birth to her 2nd calf, a son named Nakai. In May of 2002, Takara gave birth to her first calf, Kohana.  At some point both Keet and Nakai learned to mimic some of unique dolphin vocalizations that Ulises learned while living in Barcelona.

At some point in 2002, Ulises began to be used in SeaWorld's artificial insemination program.  Although Ulises attempted to breed with both Orkid and Kasatka multiple times, neither ever became pregnant. Ulises was believed at the time to be infertile.

In the spring of 2004, Ulises became seriously ill. He was put on "light duty" and started medication.  In April of that year, Takara, Kohana and Keet moved out of the park, and in December Kasatka gave birth to a daughter named Kalia. In April of 2005, Splash passed away.  In November of 2006, there was an aggressive incident with Ulises that resulted in him being suspended from waterworks. In 2007, Ulises began to refuse behaviors more frequently, and he temporarily lost most of his eyesight due to burns on both of his eyes. His eyes eventually healed, however, and he regained his eyesight. In February of 2008, trainers slowly began to reintroduce him to waterworks by interacting with him in the water through gates.

In February of 2010, senior trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by Tilikum during a Dine With Shamu show. Although she was not killed during a waterworks interaction, waterworks was permanently ended in all 3 parks after that. Later that year in September, Sumar passed away.  In 2011, at Marineland Antibes, a marine park in France, Ulises' first son Moana was born. Wikie, an adult female, had been artificially inseminated in 2010, and she had successfully become pregnant.  In November of 2011, a male named Ikaika was transferred to SeaWorld San Diego from a marine park in Canada, and in February 2012, Keet returned to San Diego and was reunited with Ulises. A few months after that, in August, a female named Shouka was also moved to the park. Although Shouka was introduced to Corky and Orkid first, she eventually met Ulises as well, and the pair eventually became close. In early 2013, Kasatka gave birth to her 4th calf, Makani.

At some point Ulises grew close to Kalia, and in the spring and summer of 2013 the pair was seen mating several times. Around this time Kalia was also artificially inseminated with his sperm.  In April of 2014, SeaWorld announced that Kalia was pregnant.  SeaWorld said that they were unsure if Kalia's pregnancy was the result of natural mating or artificial insemination.  Due to the previous belief that Ulises was infertile, rumors emerged that Kalia's pregnancy had actually been sired by Nakai, but there was never any evidence of this.

On December 2nd, 2014, Kalia gave birth to Ulises' first and only daughter, Amaya.  Although she spent her first few weeks of life with her mother, Kasatka, Makani, Nakai, Orkid  and Shouka,  at just a few months old she was introduced to Ulises as well.

### Kasatka's Death

In 2008, Kasatka developed bacterial pneumonia. Although she survived, the pneumonia became chronic, and she would live with it for the rest of her life.  In 2016, Kasatka's health started to significantly decline. She began to develop skin discoloration on her lower jaw.  In August of 2016, SeaWorld announced that they were treating Kasatka for a respiratory infection, and that she was receiving new treatment for it. Vets even made a custom nebulizer for Kasatka.  Despite the medication and intensive treatments her health continued to get worse, and in 2017 she developed severe skin lesions across her body.    By August 15th, 2017, Kasatka's quality of life was deteriorating, and SeaWorld vets made the decision to humanely euthanize her. Kasatka passed away in the medical pool at 8:15 pm PST surrounded by her caretakers and pod.   After Kasatka's death the social structure of the San Diego pod changed drastically. Kasatka had been the matriarch for decades, and all of the whales were deeply affected by her loss. Her family was hit especially hard. Although the social hierarchy fluctuated at first, Kalia and Shouka eventually became the dominant females at the park.

### Carrying On

Despite the loss of Kasatka, the pod carried on, and they eventually recovered. In late 2019, a novel coronavirus disease known as "COVID-19" was discovered, and it began to spread rapidly across the world. In March of 2020 the World Health Organization declared that it had become a pandemic.  As the disease began to spread in the United States many people, including staff at SeaWorld San Diego, started to wear masks.  Masks were a new experience for the all of the whales and, like many other animals, they likely had to get used to trainers wearing them at first.  In March of 2020, SeaWorld San Diego was closed down to prevent the spread of COVID. Although they hoped to be open again soon,  the park remained closed for several months. During this time shows did not occur and the killer whales did not have access to guests. Although SeaWorld San Diego opened back up again in August of 2020,  they were forced to close again because of COVID in December.  SeaWorld opened up once again about 2 months later in February of 2021 and remained open after that.

### Amaya's Death

On the afternoon of August 19th, 2021, Amaya unexpectedly passed away  from an unspecified gastro-intestinal disease.  Although the loss of Amaya reportedly affected all of the whales deeply, it seemed to hit Kalia and Makani especially hard. Immediately after Amaya's death Kalia isolated herself and would only let Makani approach her.  According to a staff member, Kalia was vocalizing "mournfully" following her daughter's death. On August 21st, Kalia let Shouka be with her.  The day after, Ulises, Nakai, and Orkid joined her as well.  By August 27th, Kalia and the other whales were starting to return to normal.

## Behavioral Incidents

* While living in Barcelona, Ulises began to "bite" his trainers,  and at one point he mouthed a trainer's feet.
* In October of 1997, he came out at a trainer. In 2002, Ulises was doing waterwork with a trainer when he misinterpreted a single and rolled over, knocking the trainer into the water. When he returned to scoop her he was swimming upside-down, and he became erect. He took the trainer to the stage and she exited the water safely. Ulises remained calm for the entire incident, and he was never directly aggressive.
* In 2004, during a SCUBA session, Ulises became erect and swam on top of a trainer. He ignored a hand slap and the first underwater tone, although he left the trainer after a second tone.
* In 2007, Ulises began to shake his head back and forth, sometimes with his mouth open, when he refused behaviors and sometimes during head tactile. At some point Ulises held a trainer in the center of a pool, and another time he held a trainer at the far edge of a pool.
* In November of 2006, Ulises was involved in a significant enough incident that he was suspended from waterworks for several years. Although trainers began to reintroduce him to waterworks in 2008 by interacting with him through gates, waterworks were permanently ended for all whales in February of 2010 before they ever fully resumed them with Ulises.

## Personality

Ulises is a very energetic and motivated killer whale. He jumps higher than most other male killer whales in captivity, and he can even jump completely out of the water.  He is often seen doing very high-energy behaviors that many other male killer whales cannot do. Although he puts a lot of effort into everything he does, he doesn't have a lot of stamina. Ulises is very dominant for a male killer whale, and he becomes upset when other killer whales are being fed when he is not. He seems to enjoy tactile reinforcement, especially brushes, getting rubdowns and having his flukes pulled by trainers. He also finds ice and snow, ropes and large floats reinforcing.

## Appearance

Ulises is the largest killer whale at SeaWorld San Diego. His dorsal fin is very unique: it is partially-collapsed to the right side and curls back slightly. Although his teeth are very yellowed, only a few of his teeth are broken, worn or missing, and his dental health is much better than most other killer whales in captivity. Like most other male killer whales Ulises has massive pectoral flippers and his flukes are curled inwards. Ulises has a freckle on his lower jaw, several feet below his eye. He has a v-shaped notch on the end of his peduncle, near the flukes. He also has a small notch on the trailing-edge of his dorsal fin, but it is hard to see now that his dorsal is collapsed. Both of his eyepatches have a very defined "finger" on the front that stretches out over his eye. Below the "finger" on his right eyepatch is a circular indent, and then a small "bubble". His right eyepatch is very angular and diamond-shaped, and it tapers into a slightly blurry "v" in the back. His left eyepatch is a lot thinner and smoother, but it also tapers to a slightly blurry "v" in the back. His mouth chips are subtle and blurry, although the left mouth chip is slightly more defined than the right one. His shoulder notches are very small, and he has 2 white bulges that extend from his ventral field towards below his pectoral flippers. The end of his ventral field is triangle shaped. His fluke field has a very heavy border that thins out towards the base of his flukes. The apex of his flukes is very blurry, and several small freckles radiate from the center. He also has 2 small v-shaped notches along the edge of his flukes. Both of his saddle patches are closed and are darker colored.

## Trivia

* "Ulises" is the Spanish form of the English name "Ulysses", which is the Latinized version of the Greek name "Odysseus".  All 3 names mean "wrathful".
* SeaWorld celebrates his birthday on January 1st.
* Ulises is the oldest male captive killer whale in history. Tilikum, the second-oldest, died at approximately 35 years old- nearly a decade younger than Ulises.
* Ulises may also be among some of the oldest living male killer whales in the world. The average life expectancy of male killer whales in the wild is around 30 years, although some have lived for as long as 50-60 years.
* Unlike many other male killer whales in captivity, it took well over a decade for Ulises' dorsal fin to collapse. His dorsal fin also collapsed in a very unusual way. Although it was slightly bent by the time he left Rio León Safari, it mostly grew normally after that. Eventually, however, while he lived at the Barcelona Zoo, it began to lean significantly to the left. At some point the top part of his fin also started to curl to the right, although the rest of the fin continued to lean left. This became especially obvious once he moved to SeaWorld, and his fin began to appear very corkscrew-like. The lower part of his dorsal fin eventually straightened out, and it then collapsed to the point where it is now.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Ulises
* **Videos** of Ulises

## Transfer History

Ulises' Transfer History
 Capture Boat (Guðrún), Iceland
 Hafnarfjordur Aquarium, Iceland
 Rioleon Safari Park, Spain
 Zoo Barcelona, Spain

## References

1. ↑ "Fimm háhyrningar veiddust í haust: Verðmæti 145 millj. kr."
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cetacean Cousins: Captive Orca - Ulises' Profile
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Orca Ulisses"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1  "Differences in acoustic features of vocalizations produced by killer whales cross-socialized with bottlenose dolphins"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Ulysses, Barcelona Zoo's Disturbed Killer Whale, Stirs Passions of Well-Wishers"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 SeaWorld Orca Profile - Killer Whale Ulises 2010
7. ↑ SeaWorld Orca Profile - Killer Whale Corky II 2010
8. ↑ SeaWorld Orca Profile - Killer Whale Takara 2010
9. ↑ "In vitro sperm characterization and development of a sperm cryopreservation method using directional solidification in the killer whale (Orcinus orca)"
10. ↑ "A Special Orca in Antibes"
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Let's Talk About Whale Sex – and SeaWorld's Fight for Their Right to Have It"
12. ↑ "SeaWorld Says San Diego Killer Whale Is Pregnant"
13. ↑ "Ulises: His World Upside Down"
14. ↑ "Kalia's Calf is Born! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
15. ↑ "Orkid, Makani, Kalia, Amaya, and Kasatka at the Underwater Viewing (12/23/14)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
16. ↑ "Kalia, Amaya, and Shouka (12/23/14)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
17. ↑ "Ulises, Kalia and Amaya at Shamu Underwater Viewing (6/15/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
18. ↑ "Join us for Kasatka's daily(...)" SeaWorld on Facebook.
19. ↑ "Nakai and Kasatka Rolling (6/23/16)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
20. ↑ "SeaWorld’s experts have been treating(...)" SeaWorld (SeaWorld) on Twitter
21. ↑ "💕 #kasatka #longway #home #seaworldsandiego(...)" Hayley (tillitime) on Instagram
22. ↑ "What We Need to Learn From the Death of Kasatka, the Orca Captive at SeaWorld"
23. ↑ "SeaWorld Stock Sinks Amid Federal Probes; Care of Key Orca Kasatka Debated"
24. ↑ "Kasatka"
25. ↑ "SeaWorld Euthanizes Killer Whale Kasatka; Matriarch Had Lung Disease"
26. ↑ "LIVE, UP CLOSE, POOLSIDE AND VIRTUALLY, SEAWORLD’S ORCAS AWE AND INSPIRE GUESTS EVERY DAY"
27. ↑ "Timeline: WHO's COVID-19 response"
28. ↑ "10/03/2020: SeaWorld San Diego's Orca Encouter during COVID19 at Spooktacular (4k) - Full Show @ 1pm" by Mr. & Mrs. Theme Park on YouTube
29. ↑ "Virtual Visit: Marine Mammal Mask(…)" New England Aquarium on Facebook
30. ↑ "San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld Closing Amid COVID-19 Pandemic"
31. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego set to reopen Friday on limited basis with Zoo Days"
32. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego closes again due to stay-at-home order"
33. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego Set to Re-Open Feb. 6 After Temporary Pandemic Closure"
34. ↑ "6-Year-Old Orca Dies at SeaWorld San Diego"
35. ↑ MARINE MAMMAL DATA SHEET 01/07/2015
36. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 20th (transcript)
37. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 21st (transcript)
38. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 22nd (transcript)
39. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 27th (transcript)
40. ↑ "Ulises [kicker]" by Orcinus Footages on YouTube
41. ↑ Ulises - Wikipedia
42. ↑ Ulysses (given name) - Wikipedia
43. ↑ Deceased Orcas - Inherently Wild
44. ↑ "About Orcas"
45. ↑ Ulises's Gallery - Inherently Wild