Orkid

Orkid is a 28 year old female orca who lives at SeaWorld San Diego. Her parents are Kandu 5 and Orky 2. She was born in San Diego on September 23, 1988 and was the first orca successfully born at the park. She was apparently born about a month early. Orkid was named after her father Orky, who died just days after her birth. Her only living relative is a half sister named Kayla, who lives in Florida. She is the oldest captive born orca. The first successful birth in captivity was 3 years before in September 1985.

In 1989, Orkid's mother was involved in an incident with Corky 2 that turned fatal. Kandu attacked Corky, crashing into the tank wall. She soon died after hemorraging. Orkid was 11 months old at the the time her mother died. Corky soon became her surrogate mother. The two remain together to this day and are still very close as if they were biological mother and calf.

Orkid is a dominant orca though she loves making new friends and gets along well with most orcas. She was close to Kasatka and her family, as Kasatka was also a surrogate mother figure for her. She can be seen with any member of the pod. She has also developed close relationships with Keet, Shouka and Ikaika. She gets along well with Ulises, though they did used to have issues in the past. Orkid has mated with several males, though she has never gotten pregnant. SeaWorld has mentioned that they do not know why she has trouble getting pregnant since she seems to show no difference between other females.

Orkid has been involved in several incidents with humans. After she dragged a trainer underwater in 2006, she was not allowed to do waterworks. Although she has shown aggression to trainers, she seems to have very strong bonds with them and loves attention.

Orkid is often seen performing. She knows many behaviors and picks up on new ones very quickly. She also helps in training new behaviors with other orcas by showing them how to do what they are learning. She can often be seen incorporating multiple behaviors into one and does some of the more complex behaviors. She earned herself the nickname "Rocket Scientist" due to how smart she is. She is considered one of the smartest orcas in captivity. Orkid is a very energetic whale as well and is very athletic.