Kayla (whale)

Kayla is a female Orca (killer whale) who was born on November 26, 1988 at SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas. Kayla's parents were Kenau and Orky II, both now deceased. Kayla never met her father Orky II because he died exactly two months prior to her birth.

Kayla only lived with Kenau for the first two and a half years of her life. Kenau was moved to SeaWorld Orlando in Florida in January 1991, and Kayla was moved to SeaWorld Ohio in April of the same year. Kayla would never see her mother again; Kenau died on August 6, 1991 at SeaWorld San Antonio. Kayla lived at SeaWorld Ohio in Aurora, Ohio for the next eight years with another young female, named Katerina, who was just three weeks older than her . After Katerina was moved out, another much older female named Winnie was moved in.

In November 1999, Kayla and Winnie were both moved out of the Ohio park. They were transferred to SeaWorld San Antonio. Kayla and Winnie joined a female named Haida II and her son Kyuquot. A young male named Keto arrived in March 2001. Haida II died on August 1 of that year, making Winnie the new dominant female.

Winnie died on April 11, 2002. Kayla became the new dominant Orca in the stadium and has been so ever since. After the death of Winnie, only three whales were left in the park: Kayla, Kyuquot, and Keto. This did not last very long because a young female by the name of Unna arrived in December of that year. Unna was moved to the park to settle down Kyuquot and Keto, because the two maturing males were constantly fighting over Kayla.

eaWorld

Kayla was the second largest Orca at the SeaWorld San Antonio park, just behind Kyuquot. She measures about 18 feet long and weighs in at approximately 6,000 pounds. Kayla is an extremely gentle and affectionate orca. She loves attention and is very willing to learn and please. She almost always performs as she is asked. She is a very quick learner and an agile whale; Kayla can do many high-agility behaviors very well. Trainers do water work with her often, which means they enter the water with her on a consistent basis. Kayla gets along well with all of the Orcas, but used to spend most of her time with Keet and/or Unna when she was at SeaWorld San Antonio

Kayla was the dominant female at SeaWorld San Antonio, since her arrival in 2002. Being the dominant female, Kayla reigned supreme in the tank and sometimes shared the dominance with the other adult female, Unna.

Kayla's move to Orlando

On November 18, 2006 Kayla was transferred to Sea World Orlando leaving behind a mate Keet, and their daughter Halyn* was raised by Unna immediately after Kayla's transfer. Taku* took her place at the San Antonio park.

Once Kayla arrived, she immediately gave up her dominant role to Katina, who has been the dominant female there since 1988. However, the two have been getting along surprisingly well, as well as with Katina's first offspring Kalina. Currently, she spends most of the time with Katina, Kalina, and Nalani. Since Kayla is an experienced performer, she is frequently used in "Believe."

Family members/breed

* Mother: Kenau*
* Father: Orky II*
* Sisters: Kiva* (half), Orkid (half), 1985 calf* (half)
* Brothers: Spooky* (half), 1977 calf* (half)
* Daughters: Halyn*
*Undetermined Offspring: 2007 miscarriage calf with Tilikum
* Grandmothers: Licka (A8)*
* Aunts: Corky, Havannah (A28), Sonora (A42), and Stripe (A23)*
* Uncles: Top Notch (A5)* and Foster (A26)*
* Cousins: Kelkpa (A57)*, Surf (A66), Current (A79), Okisollo (A27)*, Ripple (A43), Fife (A60), and Midsummer (A69)
* Great-Grandmothers: Eve (A9)*
* Great-Great-Grandmothers: A7*

* Breed: 50% Northern Resident and 50% Icelandic

(Asterisk indicates a deceased relative)

Halyn

Kayla gave birth to her first calf on October 9, 2005. The female calf was named Halyn. Halyn was moved to a special animal care facility to be hand raised. Kayla likely rejected her calf because she had never been exposed to a young calf before and didn't know how to deal with it. She had never witnessed an Orca birth before and there were no other experienced mothers to help her with Halyn. Halyn previously resided in Animal Care in a different part of the park, and in May she joined her SeaWorld Orca family at Shamu Stadium. Halyn's father is Keet. A possible adopted mother for Halyn is the other dominant female, Unna, who suffered a stillbirth in April . On June 15th, 2008 SeaWorld announced Halyn died un-expectantly, in which a necropsy will be performed and test results will be announced soon.cite web |url=http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=F016E77F-495E-4F8D-80D0-C067CAF7B562&gsa=true=|title=Killer whale at SeaWorld San Antonio dies |accessdate=2008-06-15 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=Dallas Morning News]

See also

* Shamu
* Keiko (orca), the star of the 1993 movie Free Willy
* SeaWorld

References

External links

* [http://www.orcahome.de/kayla.htm Pictures of Kayla]