Gender: FemalePod: N/APlace of Capture: Born at SeaWorld of TexasDate of Capture: Born on November 2

Gender: FemalePod: N/APlace of Capture: Born at SeaWorld of TexasDate of Capture: Born on November 26, 1988Age at Capture: Captive bornCurrent Location: SeaWorld of FloridaOn November 26, 1988, Icelandic female Kenau gave birth to her second calf, a female sired by the Northern Resident male Orky II, at SeaWorld San Antonio.In 1991 at only three years old, Kayla was transferred to the Aurora park with another young female named Katerina. Kayla’s mother, Kenau, died that same year on August 6 after being moved to the Orlando park in January and suffering a miscarriage.Katerina and Kayla preformed at the Ohio park alone until 1994 when an adult female named Winnie took Katerina’s place, while Katerina was transferred to the San Antonio park where she remained until her death in 1999.Kayla and Winnie were moved to the park in 1999 just after Katerina’s death, where they met the dominant female Haida II who ended up sharing dominance with Winnie. It was only until after both Winnie and Haida II died that Kayla took over the role as dominant female. When a male named Keet arrived in 2004, Kayla grew close to him and soon became pregnant by him.On October 9, 2005, she gave birth to her first calf, a female named Halyn, at the San Antonio park. Unfortunately, due to being separated from her mother at such a young age, Kayla never learned how to care for or raise a calf, and rejected Halyn immediately, reportedly even becoming aggressive towards her. The two were forced to be separated, and Halyn was hand reared by SeaWorld staff. Halyn spent a lot of time in the company of her father, but she suddenly died in June 2008.Kayla had been transferred to the Orlando park in 2006 where staff apparently hoped that she would learn mothering skills from the older, more experienced females but she suffered a miscarriage sometime in 2007. Since then, despite attempts to impregnate Kayla, she has been unable to conceive another calf.Apart from her short history as a mother, Kayla has also bee involved in a number of incidents with trainers. She often refuses separations and has come out at trainers on several occasions. In October 2006, Kayla lunged at a male trainer, making contact and throwing him several feet.In 2013, a video surfaced of a family’s visit to SeaWorld in 1995 while Kayla and Winnie were still together at the Aurora park. In the video, the whales do not seem to be cooperating with trainers. Around the 2-minute mark, Kayla can be seen attempting to propel herself onto the slide out to get closer to the crowd, but does not have enough momentum. She slides back into the pool before propelling herself onto the slide out and over a barrier wall with her head within reach of small children in the audience, who reach out to touch her. A staff member quickly moves to clear the area before Kayla slides back into the water and returns to trainer control.Today, Kayla is 26 years old and resides at the Orlando park.x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x -- source link

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