Amaya

Amaya. Photo provided by Hunter D. Photography.

### Aunts & Uncles

*Baby Shamu II*, *Kandu V's Stillborn (1986)*, *Katerina*, *Kahana's Miscarriage (1990)*, Takara, *Kenau's Unborn Calf (1991)*, *Samoa's Stillborn (1992)*, *Haida II's Calf (1994)*, *Taku*, Keto, *Unna*, *Kalina's Stillborn (1997)*, Tuar, *Nakai*, Ikaika, *Skyla*, *Halyn*, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, Nalani, *Kayla's Miscarriage (2007)*, *Unna's Miscarriage (2009)*, Makaio, Makani

### Cousins

*Kohana*, Trua, *Unna's Stillborn (2006)*, Nalani, *Unna's Miscarriage (2009)*, Sakari, Adán, *Takara's Miscarriage (2012)*, *Victoria*, Kamea, *Kyara*, *Ula*

Amaya *(pronounced ah-MY-ah)* was a 6-year-old female hybrid killer whale who lived at SeaWorld San Diego. She was born there tail-first at 12:34 pm PST on December 2nd, 2014. She was the daughter of Kalia, a 87.5% Icelandic and 12.5% Southern Resident killer whale, and Ulises, an Icelandic killer whale, making Amaya 6.25% Southern Resident and 93.75% Icelandic. Amaya passed away unexpectedly due to an unspecified gastrointestinal disease on August 19th, 2021 at SeaWorld San Diego.

## Birth and Early Life

In early 2013, Amaya's uncle and Kalia's younger brother Makani was born.  Kalia was present for his birth  and she often spent time with him.   The time that she spent with her mother and Makani would soon prepare her to care for her own calf. For months before Amaya's birth there were rumors that her mother Kalia was pregnant with her first calf.  Video footage was even released of Kalia's ultrasounds in mid-April of 2014.  Finally on April 29th, 2014, SeaWorld confirmed that Kalia was indeed pregnant. Kalia was 9 years old at the time.  SeaWorld artificially inseminated Kalia once with sperm from Ulises, although the pair mated naturally many times before and after that. It is unknown if Amaya was conceived naturally or not.

On November 30th trainers noticed that Kalia's body temperature had dropped by 1 degree. The following day Kalia stopped eating. As Kalia had been already pregnant for about 17 months, trainers suspected that the birth was imminent. Finally, on December 2nd, 2014,  on a cold,  stormy morning just weeks before her 10th birthday, Kalia went into labor. Trainers first noticed that the calf's flukes had emerged at 10:20 am. Kasatka, Kalia's mother, was present during her labor and diligently stayed by her daughter's side. Makani and Kalia's older brother Nakai were also there. After over 2 hours of labor, at 12:34 pm, the calf was born. Kasatka immediately rushed to escort her new grand-daughter to the surface for her first breathe of air, and Kalia followed her just seconds later. Although the calf hit the wall of the tank almost immediately after emerging from her mother, she was not injured. Within a few minutes Kalia's calf was safely swimming between her mother, her grandmother, and her uncle Makani, and she was nursing just a few hours after that.   At the time of her birth 10 other whales lived at SeaWorld San Diego: her mother, her grandmother, who happened to be the matriarch of the San Diego pod, her uncles, her father Ulises, her grand-father Keet, her great-uncle Ikaika, as well as Shouka, Orkid, and Corky II,  3 older females who were close with Kasatka and her family.

On December 18th, 2014, it was revealed that Kalia's calf was a female.  On January 21st, 2015, SeaWorld announced on their Facebook page that they were holding a vote for the name of the baby. The choices were "Amaya", an Arabic name that means "night rain", "Kissa", an African name that means "first born daughter", and "Nasia", a Greek name that means "immortal".  The name "Amaya" won by a landslide, and her name was officially announced on January 23rd, 2015.

At just a few days old Amaya was already able to swim through gates with her mother. Kasatka was still staying near her daughter, and she even took turns swimming with Amaya while Kalia rested.  At just about 2 weeks old Amaya was ready to make brief appearances in shows alongside her mother.  She quickly showed herself to be independent calf and a strong swimmer even from a very early age.  She was introduced to some of the parks other whales, such as Orkid, at less than a month old.  Amaya even started to try fish around the same time.  By the time she was a month and a half old Amaya was comfortable swimming on her own away from her mother.  By 2 months old Amaya was spending more time playing with her uncle and was even interacting with guests.

Amaya grew up quickly. It wasn't long until she was interacting with toys,  , playing with her uncle,    and even spending time around the other whales at the park.  As Makani was just about a year older than her, Amaya grew especially close to him, and the 2 young whales could often be seen playing and exploring together.   Amaya often mimicked the older whales,  and would even try to copy them in presentations when they did behaviors.   By her first birthday Amaya was already learning very basic behaviors.  As she grew older Amaya, along with Makani, were used by SeaWorld and killer whale researchers in calf growth-rate studies.

## Life at SeaWorld

Amaya spent her first few years of life growing up alongside her family, although she seemed to especially enjoy being with her uncle Makani. As Amaya got older she began to explore more and learned new things.  Amaya became close to her trainers  and she would often ask for attention and rubdowns from them.   She also seemed to love water sprays.   Amaya also spent time with Shouka and Orkid.  Her mother eventually taught her how to bait and catch birds.

### The Fall of the Queen

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 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, 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

As Amaya grew older she became more independent and learned more behaviors. She also started to appear more frequently in shows and perform more complicated behaviors, sometimes even by herself. She often performed alongside her mother,   Shouka,   and Orkid.  Although she was becoming more mature she still seemingly enjoyed trainer attention, playing on slide-outs,   interacting with guests    and of course being with Makani.

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.

## Death

On the afternoon of August 19th, a guest posted on social media that the Orca Encounter shows were suddenly canceled at SeaWorld San Diego that day.  Just about 2 hours later it was reported that Amaya had passed away very suddenly earlier that day. According to a press release from SeaWorld she developed signs of illness on the 18th, and her health rapidly declined over the next day. Although SeaWorld said that she had received treatment of some sort, they did not specify what she had been treated for.  SeaWorld personally confirmed her death on their Facebook page the following afternoon.  Amaya was very young and she wasn't known to suffer from any chronic health issues, so her death was unexpected. Many people soon began to post tributes to her on social media.

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 that, Ulises, Nakai, and Orkid joined her as well.  By August 27th, Kalia and the other whales were starting to return to normal.  Makani was back to playing and goofing off by early September.

A necropsy was done just hours after Amaya had passed away. On September 15th, 2021, SeaWorld officially reported Amaya's death to NOAA, and gave them her cause of death.  They reported that Amaya died from a gastro-intestinal disease, although they did not specify what type of gastro-intestinal disease she died from.  Information about Amaya's cause of death was not publicly available until October 13th when NOAA documents were acquired by PETA through a Freedom of Information Act request, although PETA never released the documents or even made a statement about them.  Amaya’s cause of death became widely-known after users on social media began to share links to the documents and screenshots on the afternoon of October 18th.

Just days after Amaya's death PETA's Executive Vice-President claimed that Amaya was killed by Corky. According to "whistleblower reports", at one point Amaya had chased and injured Corky, and then Corky "retaliated" and killed Amaya in the process. There was no evidence of this and many people were dubious of their story when it came out.  Their claim about Amaya's death was eventually proven false  by the documents that PETA themselves acquired through the Freedom of Information Act.  PETA continues to spread this story, however, even after the cause of death was publicly available.

## Appearance

At some point several of the teeth in the back of Amaya's mouth were seemingly broken, and the pulp was exposed.  How she broke her teeth, or when exactly it occurred, is unknown. She seemingly broke her teeth between 2017  and 2019.

## Personality

Amaya was an energetic and playful calf who would often interact with guests at underwater viewing. She was close with her mother as well as other members of the pod.

## Trivia

* The name "Amaya" is an Arabic name that means "night rain".
* Due to the meaning of her name, some people consider rain storms that occur at night, especially in San Diego and the surrounding areas, to be a sign of her "presence" still remaining.
	+ One example of this is that it rained at night in many parts of central Arizona on the anniversary of her passing as well as the day after her birthday. The Sonoran desert averages around 36 days of rain a year.
* The other names that were considered for her were "Kissa", an African name that means "first born daughter", and "Nasia", a Greek name that means "immortal".
* Amaya was the first and to this day only 5th-generation killer whale to be born in captivity.
* She was the 7th killer whale to be successfully born at SeaWorld San Diego, and the 32nd killer whale to be born at all of the SeaWorld parks in total.
* More whales were present for Amaya's birth (Kalia, Kasatka, Makani and Nakai) than for any other captive killer whale birth.
* Amaya was the 3rd descendant of Kalina to pass away in 2021. Amaya's cousin Ula, as well as her aunt Skyla, also passed away that year. Coincidentally, all 3 whales also died of gastro-intestinal issues, although none of their deaths were related.
* Because Ulises was thought to be infertile, people have claimed that Amaya's real father is actually Nakai or Tilikum. There is no evidence of this being true, however, and Ulises was rumored to be Amaya's father long before she was even born.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Amaya
* **Videos** of Amaya

## Transfer History

*Amaya was never transferred out of SeaWorld San Diego.*

## References

1. ↑ "Orca Born At SeaWorld"
2. ↑ "Kasatka Giving Birth to Makani" by XxIStillBelievexX on YouTube
3. ↑ "Makani & Kalia and the Bucket" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
4. ↑ "Kalia and Makani at SeaWorld San Diego, California in 2013" by thesupremestar on YouTube
5. ↑ "Former trainers decry possible orca pregnancy at SeaWorld"
6. ↑ "Kalia's Pregnancy: Ultrasound Footage" by CetusCetus on YouTube
7. ↑ "SeaWorld Says San Diego Killer Whale Is Pregnant"
8. ↑ "Let's Talk About Whale Sex – and SeaWorld's Fight for Their Right to Have It"
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Kalia's Calf is Born! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
10. ↑ December 2014 Weather in San Diego — Graph
11. ↑ "Baby killer whale born at SeaWorld"
12. ↑ SeaWorld San Diego - Ceta-Base
13. ↑ "Kalia's Baby Gender Reveal! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
14. ↑ "Do you want to help(...)" by SeaWorld on Facebook"
15. ↑ "Kalia's Baby Has a Name! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
16. ↑ "SeaWorld Vote Picks ‘Amaya’ as Name for Killer Whale Calf"
17. ↑ "Kalia's Baby (5 Days Old) and Makani's Mirror" by LawoftheClaw on YouTube
18. ↑ "Kalia, Amaya, Kasatka, and Makani Side by Side (12/18/14)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
19. ↑ "Kalia, Amaya, Kasatka, and Makani 12-30-14" by RukatheBlackfish on YouTube
20. ↑ "Orkid, Makani, Kalia, Amaya, and Kasatka at the Underwater Viewing (12/23/14)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
21. ↑ "Kalia shares fish with Amaya at SeaWorld San Diego 12-30-14" by RuketheOrca on YouTube
22. ↑ "Amaya, Makani, Kalia, and Kasatka 1-30-15" by RukatheBlackfish on YouTube"
23. ↑ "Kids playing with killer whale babies Seaworld 2015.2" by Heather Sage on YouTube
24. ↑ "Amaya and Kalia Play with a Toy at Shamu Underwater Viewing (6/14/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
25. ↑ "Amaya and Kalia Playing with a Toy (8/28/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
26. ↑ "Killer Whale Water Spray Enrichment at SeaWorld San Diego (6/15/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
27. ↑ "Makani and Amaya Playing with the Automatic Water Spray (6/14/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
28. ↑ "Amaya and Makani Slideout Play - SeaWorld San Diego - June 15, 2015" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
29. ↑ "Ulises, Kalia and Amaya at Shamu Underwater Viewing (6/15/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
30. ↑ "How is Amaya the killer whale calf doing SeaWorldÂ®" by Alice Hammer on YouTube (reuploaded, originally uploaded by SeaWorld San Diego)
31. ↑ "Makani, Amaya, Kasatka, and Kalia in Show Pool (8/28/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
32. ↑ "Amaya Copying Kalia" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
33. ↑ "Kasatka, Kalia, and Shouka Backdive and Fluke Splash (With Amaya)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
34. ↑ "Kalia and Amaya's Bows and Shouka's Perp Bow (12/13/15)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
35. ↑ "Amaya's 1st birthday celebration during Killer Whales: Up Close 12-2-15" by RukatheBlackfish on YouTube
36. ↑ "Happy 3rd Birthday Makani! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
37. ↑ "SeaWorld's Amaya Will Bring A Smile To Your Face!" by SeaWorld® Parks & Entertainment on YouTube
38. ↑ "Happy Birthday, Kalia! | SeaWorld San Diego" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
39. ↑ "Kalia and Amaya Offering Tactile" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
40. ↑ "Amaya Wants Rubdowns (10/26/16)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube.
41. ↑ "Killer whale water sprayer enrichment with Amaya, Shouka, and Kalia at SeaWorld San Diego" by RukatheBlackfish on YouTube
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 "Amaya Playing with Water Sprays" by SeaWorld San Diego on YouTube
43. ↑ "Amaya, Shouka, and Kalia Playing on the Slideout (10/27/16)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
44. ↑ "Kalia and Amaya Baiting Birds (6/24/16)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
45. ↑ "Join us for Kasatka's daily(...)" SeaWorld on Facebook.
46. ↑ "Nakai and Kasatka Rolling (6/23/16)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
47. ↑ "SeaWorld’s experts have been treating(...)" SeaWorld (SeaWorld) on Twitter
48. ↑ "💕 #kasatka #longway #home #seaworldsandiego(...)" Hayley (tillitime) on Instagram
49. ↑ "What We Need to Learn From the Death of Kasatka, the Orca Captive at SeaWorld"
50. ↑ "SeaWorld Stock Sinks Amid Federal Probes; Care of Key Orca Kasatka Debated"
51. ↑ "Kasatka"
52. ↑ "SeaWorld Euthanizes Killer Whale Kasatka; Matriarch Had Lung Disease"
53. ↑ "LIVE, UP CLOSE, POOLSIDE AND VIRTUALLY, SEAWORLD’S ORCAS AWE AND INSPIRE GUESTS EVERY DAY"
54. ↑ "Kalia & Amaya Slideout Behaviors (Seen during Orca Encounter at SeaWorld San Diego)" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
55. ↑ "Amaya & Kalia [thrasher]" by Orcinus Footages on YouTube
56. ↑ "Shouka, Orkid, & Amaya [bow]" by Orcinus Footages on YouTube
57. ↑ "Kalia, Amaya, Shouka - Orca Encounter (August 2020)" by TessOrca on YouTube
58. ↑ "Kalia, Amaya, Orkid - Orca Encounter (July 2021)" by TessOrca on YouTube
59. ↑ "Amaya on the Slideout - SeaWorld San Diego - November 14, 2020" by EchoBeluga on YouTube
60. ↑ "Robin + Amaya playtime!" by Orcinus Footages on YouTube
61. ↑ "Amaya interacting at SeaWorld San Diego in 2019" by thesupremestar on YouTube
62. ↑ "Amaya playing with kids - underwater viewing SWSD" by evz888 vloggz on YouTube
63. ↑ "amaya interacting with little kids" by grace dorazio on YouTube
64. ↑ "Timeline: WHO's COVID-19 response"
65. ↑ "10/03/2020: SeaWorld San Diego's Orca Encouter during COVID19 at Spooktacular (4k) - Full Show @ 1pm" by Mr. & Mrs. Theme Park on YouTube
66. ↑ "Virtual Visit: Marine Mammal Mask(…)" New England Aquarium on Facebook
67. ↑ "San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld Closing Amid COVID-19 Pandemic"
68. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego set to reopen Friday on limited basis with Zoo Days"
69. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego closes again due to stay-at-home order"
70. ↑ "SeaWorld San Diego Set to Re-Open Feb. 6 After Temporary Pandemic Closure"
71. ↑ "No OE today 😭😭(...)" SHAMU TV™️ (shamu1964) on Twitter
72. ↑ "6-Year-Old Orca Dies at SeaWorld San Diego"
73. ↑ "We come to you today(...)" SeaWorld on Facebook
74. ↑ "for amaya, 'night rain'" by orcinidae on YouTube
75. ↑ "her name was “night rain”(...)" by kendy \*ctenophore emoji\* (kendyjnelly) on Twitter
76. ↑ "Someone also sent me this(...)" by kendy \*ctenophore emoji\* (kendyjnelly) on Twitter
77. ↑ "I did this as soon(...)" I am once again yearning for the sea (AiraySickle) on Twitter
78. ↑ "in loving memory of amaya" by orcinois on YouTube
79. ↑ "This is majority of killer(...)" by Dante (SaltyCetaceans) on Twitter
80. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 20th (transcript)
81. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 21st (transcript)
82. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 22nd (transcript)
83. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from August 27th (transcript)
84. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from September 3rd (transcript)
85. ↑ Conversation with an anonymous staff member from September 4th (transcript)
86. ↑ "Good Morning Jennifer and Courtney(...)" Email conversation from Kaylin Ackerson, Senior Animal Records and Data Manager at SeaWorld, to NOAA's National Inventory of Marine Mammals on September 15th, 2021
87. ↑ 87.0 87.1 MARINE MAMMAL DATA SHEET 01/07/2015
88. ↑ 88.0 88.1 DOC-NOAA-2021-002094 Request Details
89. ↑ "Amaya’s cause of death was(...)" on Twitter (screenshot)
90. ↑ "6 year old Amaya's cause(...)" (end\_\_speciesism) on Instagram (screenshot)
91. ↑ "Whistleblower Tips Prompt PETA to Push for Probe Into Young Orca’s Death"
92. ↑ "They don’t deserve to be(...)" peta (@peta) on Instagram
93. ↑ "Sad to see some of(...)" pnw\_whales' (pnw\_whales) story on Instagram (screenshot)
94. ↑ "Amaya and Shouka Preshow" by ForeverShouka Footages on YouTube
*This page was last updated on: Aug. 3, 2023*