Taku (whale)

Taku was a male Orca, who was born at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. After birth, Taku spent most of his time with his mother Katina or Nyar, his half-sister. Three years later, Katina gave birth again to a female, Unna. On August 25, 2002 Katina gave birth to her fifth calf; a male, Ikaika.Unna was later moved to SeaWorld San Antonio in December 2002. Afterwards, Ikaika and Taku bonded to the point where Ikaika swam in mother-calf-position with Taku. On November 18, 2006 Taku was moved to SeaWorld San Antonio whereas Ikaika was moved to Marineland Canada in Ontario.

Family members/breed

*Mother: Katina
*Father: Tilikum
*Brothers: Ikaika, Kyuquot (half), Sumar (half), Tekoa (half), Tuar (half), and Nakai (half)
*Sisters: Kalina (half), Katerina* (half), Kohana (half), Unna, Nyar* (half), Skyla (half), Nalani, and Malia (half).
*Nephews: Keet, Keto, and Tuar
*Nieces: Skyla
*Daughters: Nalani
*Sons: Trua
*Possible Relatives: Betty*, Nandu*, and Samoa*
*Breed: 100% Icelandic

(Asterisk indicates a deceased relative)

Meeting Takara

When Takara and her daughter Kohana arrived at SeaWorld, Taku immediately began showing an interest in her. Visitors were commenting on Taku's persistence in following Takara and Kohana everywhere after their arrival. Things settled down and Takara began to tolerate Taku's company. She would often initiate contact with him by swimming with him or rubbing. Takara soon became pregnant.

Birth of Trua

On November 23, 2005 around 21:50 EST (4:50 PM), Takara went into labor with her second calf. Her daughter Kohana was at her side. An hour later around 22:22, Takara gave birth to a male calf (Taku's son/first calf) who was later to be named Trua.

Death

Taku died unexpectedly on October 17, 2007, at the age of 14 and weighing over 7000 lbs and at 22 feet long. Trainers were notified that Taku had been acting differently the Wednesday before his death. Officials stated that a necropsy report would take place, but the results would not be in for at least 6 weeks. After a long awaited report that took longer than 6 weeks, it was determined that Taku had passed away from a sudden case of pneumonia, a common illness among captive orcas.cite web |url=http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=e9fdad0c-5dcf-407a-a1b7-48c953e7ef2a|title=Sea World Killer Whale Dies|accessdate=2007-10-18 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=WOAI-TV] cite web |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8SCDTOO0.html|title=Killer whale at SeaWorld San Antonio dies |accessdate=2007-10-19 |author=|date= |work= |publisher=Dallas Morning News]

References