Some General Info

Some General Info:

Name: Tilikum
Pronounced: till-ih-kum

Means: Friend in Chinook
SW ID: SWF-OO-9201
Stage Name/Nickname: Tili
Sex: Male
Age: 23(?)

Birth Date: December/1981
Current Size: 22.5 feet and 12,320 pounds
Capture Date: October 1983 in Icealnd
Capture Size: 11.5 feet

Parents: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Half-Siblings: Unknown

Birth Place: ~

Birth: Tail first
Father of: Kyuquot, No name*, Nyar*, Taku, No name*, No name*, Unna, No name*, Sumar, Tuar, Tekoa, Nakai Kohana, Ikaika, Skyla

Tilikum's Status:

Tilikum is SeaWorld best breeding male. He has fathered more calves than any other captive orca. Tilikum is used in the shows for splashing guests and for slide outs, with Taima or just alone. Tilikum is the biggest orca in captivity. He is not the longest though. The longest is Kandu 7, who lives at Marineland Canada.

Tilikum's History:

When Tilikum was captured he was sent to Sea Land , Victoria, where he met Haida 2* and Nootka 4*. But they were very dominant over him. Tilikum spent 8 years at Sea Land and wasn't taught water works, and one year a trainer fell in the orca pool. They didn't know what to do with her, and because they thought she might have been a toy, they ended up drowning her. Tilikum mated with Haida* and she gave birth to Kyuquot, and Nootka* and Haida* were very protective of him, so Tilikum was isolated from them in the medical pool. Nootka* was also pregnant and so that she could handle the birth Tilikum was transferred to SeaWorld Orlando in January 1992. He met Katina, Gudrun*, Winnie* and Taima there. Tilikum was needed at SWF because there breeding male had died. Just a few weeks after his arrival he mated with Katina and Gudrun*. And a year after Tilikum's arrival Nootka 4* arrived after Sea Land closed and they mated. Nootka's first calf died not long after it's birth. On New years Eve of 1992 Gudrun gave birth to Nyar* and a few months later Katina gave birth to Taku. In August 1994 Nootka gave birth to her calf but unfortunately it was a still born, and 1 month later she died. Through out the years Tilikum has mated with a lot of females. In 1998 trainers started to train Tilikum for ai (artificial insemination) and so far Nakai and Kohana have been the first orca calves to be born through it. Trainers haven't entered the water with Tilikum because of what happened in Sea Land, but in 1999 a mans body was found on Tilikum, and so they immediately thought Tilikum had killed him. But Tilikum was proved innocent.

How to identify Tilikum: