Taima (whale)
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Taima is a trainsiet/Icelandic hybrid female killer whale who lives at Sea World Orlando in Florida. Her name means "Crash of Thunder" in the Icelandic language and was born tail first around 16:45 EST during a thunderstorm.
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Early years
She was born on July 11, 1989 to mother Gudrun and father Kanduke. Later in 1990, Kanduke died at age 20 from a stomach problem while her mother on the other hand gave birth to her half-sister Nyar in 1993. Nyar was a very sick whale because she was so both mentally and physically ill that Gudrun tried to drown her during several shows. Taima witnessed this and thought this was how to raise a calf. She would later perform this on her own calves, Sumar and Tekoa - Gudrun's grandchildren. Gudrun died in 1996 from stillbirth complications and Nyar died a few months later from an illness that April. It seems that within a few months, Taima lost two of her closest family members.
Motherhood
In 1998 she gave birth to a male calf named Sumar, while being just 8 years old nearly a baby her self. They were separated when he was about 8 months old because of the aggression between them. On one occasion while performing Taima started biting her son and throwing him out of the pool on the trainer’s platform, then she slided out her self and started biting him. The show was stopped and Taima was pulled to the other swimming pool, few months later Sumar was transferred to Sea World California.
On 8 November 2000, at 3:47 pm Taima gave birth to a baby boy, named Tekoa. He began feeding overnight and was estimated to be 7 feet long and 350 pounds. During the birth Kalina assisted Taima and helped the calf to the surface for its 1st breath.
The two were separated only after 9 months due to aggression between them. It was reported that Tekoa was swimming with Katina and Taima got jealous and went for Tekoa. Katina tried to stop Taima, in which Taima became angry. Taima then went for a pregnant Katina, which left her unsettled and nearly caused a miscarriage. Teoka was sent to Sea World San Antonio in 2005 and was later sent to Loro Parque in Spain in February 2006.
Recent years
For a few years, Tamia was separated from all the other whales. She and her mate Tillikum are extremely close and are seen performing together in many killer whale shows. On March 12th, 2007 Taima gave birth to a calf, in which Tilikum is the father.
