#tanouk

January 12th

36 years ago today, two whales died on the same day. Ramu at SeaWorld Orlando, and Miracle at Sealand of the Pacific.

Ramu was 18 years old, and 15 years after the start of commercial captures, he was one of the oldest whales alive.

As killer whale lifespan wasn't understood well at the time (their anatomy and health was really just being learned from things like these necropsies), and because of “numerous senile changes”, Ramu's cause of death was believed to be "age-related".

He was sick for a full 18 months before dying, and the necropsy showed he was suffering from kidney inflammation, anemia, heart failure, intestinal parasites, and his lungs and liver were very congested. His appetite was good, with him eating 300-500 lbs (136-226 kg) of fish a day, but on the day of his death, he weighed 5900 lbs (2.67 metric tons), and was 24 feet long (7.3 meters). To compare, Tilly at his full size was 23 feet long, and weighed 12000 lbs. While Ramu was only eighteen and not fully "girthed out" yet, he was clearly underweight.

Miracle on the other hand, was the longest-lived of Haida's "mates", the numerous females acquired to start a breeding program (Knootka who was sold, Chimo, Nootka 2 and Nootka 3 who all died wihin months or a couple of years).

She had been rescued after being found with a gunshut wound, stranded, and ridden with parasites. Despite this, and her bad luck in ending up at Sealand of the Pacific (rather than Vancouver Aquarium, which was the second option), she lived longer at Sealand than any of the previous females.

We don't know how long she could have lived, however, as on this day, she drowned in the netting of the sea pen, after activists cut the net to "free" the whales. Now she was "free", alright.

November 19th

Gender: Male Pod: N/A Place of Capture: Hornafjörður, Iceland Date of Capture: October 1989 Age at Capture: Approx. 3 years

A group of four Orcas were captured in Iceland sometime in October 1989. These would be the last whales captured from Icelandic waters, as the government was determining whether to ban the practice.

The whales were transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium where they remained until their transfers were authorized.

In January 1990, the male named Tanouk and a female named Sharkan were moved to Marineland Antibes in France. Here, they met the resident whales Kim II and Freya.

However, tensions were high during this time, as Freya was pregnant. Sharkan and Kim II got along immediately while Tanouk fought with the large bull. As a result, Tanouk was often kept in the back pools.

In November 1995, Tanouk was sold to Izu-Mito Sea Paradise and renamed Yamato. His underside suffered bad cuts during the transfer, but he was able to heal quickly.

Not long after his arrival, the park began searching for a female and when a group of Orcas were captured in Taiji in 1997, one of them was purchased and sent to Sea Paradise as a companion for Yamato.

Asuka, as she was named, seemed to settle in well and both she and Yamato got along well. Soon enough, plans for a breeding program were made. However, even though both whales were sexually mature, Asuka never became pregnant.

Finally, on October 24, 2000, Yamato died due to unknown causes after only 11 years in captivity.