Bare Facts: Unknown ~ Born est.1967 ~ Died 1973 ~ Mother Stripe ~ Father Unknown ~ Children None ~ ID Unknown

A21 was born, almost certainly to Stripe, around 1967. When he/she was born, the family consisted of grandma A7, Stripe herself, and older sister Corky2.
When A21 was two years old, the family was captured. Corky was taken away and never seen by wild whales again.
In 1971, when A21 was around four, he/she got a new brother, Okisollo. The two were playmates for each other, only four years apart.
Then, in 1973, tragedy struck. A BC Ferry hit what it thought was a deadhead (a log floating in the water) on December 2, 1973. The captain, Captain D. Manuel, went to see what had happened when he saw four killer whales surface near the boat. The whales consisted of a mature male, a female, and two young whales. One of the calves had been hit by the propeller of the ferry, and the male and female had wedged it between them to keep it upright. Once in a while, the bull lost its position and the calf rolled upside down. The bull would pull up again and push it upright. The other calf, the uninjured one, hovered behind the entire time.
The whales left the ferry behind, and amazingly, the calf, which was bleeding badly and very injured, almost certainly survived 15 days, because on January 10, 1974, someone saw two whales holding a third one upright.
The whale was not seen again and almost certainly died, as no scarred whales have been seen since.
It is nearly certain that this whale was A21, though we can't be sure. A sad ending, indeed, but it certainly proved the strong social bonds of these magnificent creatures.