Tillikum was captured in Iceland in November of 1983. He was sold to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where he was to live with Haida2 and Nootka4; after Sealand's male orca (Haida) died a few months previously. There the three shared a tiny pool for many years. Tillikum would often be closed at night in a small, metal, holding pool, which most of his scars are from. Haida2 had a male calf named Kyuquet (Ky) on December 24, 1991 and Tillikum was the father. Tillikum was held in the small pool more often than usually. He and Ky never really meet even, because it was thought that Tillikum would harm, or even kill him, by playing a bit too rough and because of the lack of space. In March of 1992 Nootka4 gave birth to a male calf, again fathered by Tillikum, the calf died after 33 days of the birth. After an incident with the whales (more on that story) caused the park to close in 1992. Seaworld purchased all four whales, sending Haida2 (died, August 2001) and her son Ky to Seaworld Texas (January of 1993) and Tillikum and Nootka4 to Seaworld Florida (January of 1992). Tillikum was only 7,000 pounds when he arrived at Seaworld Orlando. Tillikum eats 300-350 pounds of fish everyday. He is one of the males trained for artificial insemination. Trainers do not enter the water withTillikum, because of his size, strength and the Sealand incident. In 1999, Tillikum had another incident with a man, so far it has not been explained what happened (more on that story). Since then the trainers at Seworld have been more careful around Tillikum. That just proves that orcas are not some toys to be ridden, they should be respected and remain in the, WILD. Tillikum has fathered many calves. Ky** (born on December 24, 1991, mother Haida2), Taku (born on September 9, 1993, mother Kalina), Unna> (born on December 27, 1996, mother Katina), Summar^> (born on May 14,1998, mother Taima), Tuar> (born on June 22, 1999, mother Kalina), Tekoa> (born on November 8, 200, mother Taima), Nakai*^ (born on September 1, 2001, mother Kasatka*), Kohana*^> (born on May 3, 2002, mother Takara*), and Katina's calf (born August 25, 2002).
What he looks like:
Tillikum is easily recgonized because his dorsal fin is completely flopped to his left side and he has 2 small black dots on his left eye-patch. Tillikum is the biggest captive orca in the world being 23 feet long and weighing in at 11,430 pounds (August 2001) One reason for gos large size is because he is an Icelandic killer whale (Icelandic's tend to be larger).
Personality:
Meaing "friend" in Chinook, Tillikum spends most of the time alone in one of the pools of the Shamu Stadium.In the show, he is made to do jumps and he can splash the first frifteen rows with his tail. After, he slides out for a beautiful picture. Sometimes, Taku or Taima are with him in the back pools. He is also kept away from the babies as much as possible. This is because he likes to play with them, and although he may not know it, but he plays too rough and could harm the babies.
** -Lives in Seaworld Texas
> -2 generation of captive born orcas
* -Lives at Seaworld California
^ -born through Artificial Insemination
Tillikum on slideout 2
Tillikum on slideout 3
Tillikum on slideout4
Tlillikum on slideout5
Tillikum underwater
Tillikum underwater2
Tillikum underwater3
Tillikum underwater4
Tillikum underwater5
Tillikum doing a breach/belly-flop
Tillikum doing a breach/belly-flop2
Tillikum doing a breach/belly-flop3
Tillikum doing a breach/belly-flop4
Tillikum doing a bow2
Tillkium trying/sliding out
Tillikum trying/sliding out2
Tillikum swimming
Tillikum swimming with his mouth open
Tillikum doing a an Alien
Tillikum praticing the Alien
Tillikum with his mouth open (he looks like he's crying)
Tillikum rolling over on the slideout
Tillikum pictures from the Seaworld website
Tillikum pictures from the Seaworld website2
Tillikum pictures from the Seaworld website3