Above: Halyn and a watchful SeaWorld staff member from Seaworld.com

This page is about Kayla's calf of 2005. This beautiful little fighter was abandoned by her mother and is being raised by SeaWorld staff, something that has never been successful. While there are a lot of odds against her, I'm hoping for the best. This page will track her progress.

August 5

And I've finally updated Halyn's page! Wow! Well, the little girl is still doing great. She gets lots of attention from her trainers and still lives alone in her back pool at Shamu Theatre. The general public can see her now. She's very energetic and playful, and jumps and splashes all the time. Apparently she's very fast! She's trying to get up on the slideout...hasn't quite managed it yet, but almost! She still gets bottle-fed once in a while, but is basically weaned. The other whales seem eager to meet her, meeting her at the gate. Unna and Kayla especially seem very interested. Maybe Kayla's going to redeem herself as a mother? Remember, Unna's just lost her calf, so they're probably both feeling very motherly. They've tried to play with her through the gate, and they'll probably raise her together. I think Unna has met her in person.

May 3

Great news! Halyn's been moved back into Shamu Theatre for the first time since her birth! She's now in one of the back pools. Trainers said that since she's making such steady progress, they decided it was time to reintroduce her to the rest of the whales. She is currently getting used to the back pool, and eventually will be introduced to the other whales one at a time. Halyn is six months old now, and weighs 778 pounds! During the past 30 days, she's been weaned off her formula and now eats 29 pounds of fish every day. Obviously, she won't be performing in Believe yet. Trainers continue to watch over the little girl.

April 22

Short update on Halyn, who's doing very well. She's still in AC (Animal Care), away from the public eye and the other whales. However, Behind the Scenes tours mean people willing to pay a little extra can see her. I am now indebted to Jenna, who sent me a detailed update on the little calf :) While Halyn still has baby colouring, she's lost more of it than Kalia, who is still really dark for 1 year old. Either way, Halyn still has some yellowing. She is now eating fish, but she isn't on a completely fish diet yet. Trainers plan to introduce her to the pod sometime this summer, definitely this year. They said that it depended on her; when she's independant and strong enough, she'll be moved back in. Also, they're probably waiting for Unna to have her calf, since then Halyn'll have a playmate. Tuar likes to roughhouse a bit now and might not play with a little calf. Also, the trainers suspect that Kayla rejected her daughter because she didn't want to lose her dominance place to Unna. Apparently Kayla was rough and started pushing the calf around a bit, which lead to the separation in the first place. Again, thanks so much to Jenna for this great information!
Also, I've added a photo album thanks to the wonderful photos of Jenna!

Above photo of Halyn taken by Jenna, DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!

February 18

Above; Halyn, copyright to SeaWorld.

No real updates on her, but SeaWorld did release an adorable video. You can even see her and Kayla together for about 3 seconds! She still has 32 teeth, and is now 8 feet long, and 644 pounds, which is great! She seems very comfortable with people, and healthy. She now drinks 14 litres of her formula daily. SeaWorld apparently plans on reuniting her with the rest of the pod eventually, but since the three month mark has now grown into five months, we really have no idea when. It's possible she will show up with the pod when SeaWorld Texas opens to the public again on March 4. We'll just have to wait and see!

The video of Halyn can be found here: SeaWorld Texas

January 30

Finally an update on the calf! She is now NAMED! :D Her name is now Halyn, which means 'unique, unlike any other', and it was chosen unanimously by the trainers and staff taking care of her. Halyn is reportedly doing well. She's still with the bottlenose dolphin for company, and an acoustic system is still there so she can here the other whales. She is now 7 feet long, weighs 578 pounds, and has 32 teeth! She's doing well and has obviously touched the hearts of everyone working with her. The staff is getting confident about her chances, and are now introducing her to fish. She's starting being trained, and staff are working on getting her used to such health basics as presenting her tail flukes to be inspected. She now eats up to 14 litres of formula a day, and is fed every two hours. Way to go, beautiful!

November 17

Another article came out on 'K-Calf' today. She is with a bottlenose dolphin again (or maybe it never left, that may have been a rumour), and an audio system is hooked to her back tank so that she can hear the other orcas. SeaWorld officials are on the record as saying she might be fine without mom after all, and since that's a very big thing to say for them, she seems to be doing really well! She is nursed 12 times daily, and since she is teething, they are planning to introduce her to fish soon.

November 15

SeaWorld has released an update on the calf today! She is now over a month old :) and doing well. She really seems to be growing...her teeth are now coming in, she now weighs 366 pounds, and she is now OVER SEVEN FEET long! 50 animals specialists are working at taking care of her and she is monitored around the clock. She is now being bottle-fed (as can be seen in the photo). While she has no official name yet, trainers are calling her K-Calf, with the K standing for Kayla. We can only hope they don't officially name her anything that starts with K (or T)! Look at the ones we already have with those letters: Kasatka, Keet, Keto, Kayla, Kyoquot, Kalia, Katina, Kalina, Tillikum, Taima, Tuar, Tekoa! Anyway, SeaWorld is also now playing a video of the calf at their shows. The calf looks playful and lively (yay!). According to the announcer, they plan to reintroduce her to the rest of the whales at 3 months old. Above photo from SeaWorld.com

October 23

An article was put up today at My San Antonio.com about the calf. According to the article, the dolphin they placed the calf with also ignored the baby, so she was removed and the calf is alone once more. The calf likes to interact with the trainers and to be rubbed. They plan on weaning her from milk to solid food around the time her teeth come in...when she's around 3 to 6 months old. This seems short to me, since orcas in the wild can nurse for two years, but I guess A) it's cut short anyway in captivity, and B) they have to wean her quickly so that she has a better chance of surviving. Apparently she's doing well, so knock on wood, her chances seem to be improving!

October 14

SeaWorld released the first update on the calf's progress today. She is still going strong, and Kayla seems fine as well. The calf has gained 20 pounds and now weighs 284 pounds, which is a good sign. SeaWorld is monitoring her 24-7, and giving her weigh-ins and taking blood samples often. Every two hours, they feed her. Besides a formula they've made, they are also taking milk from Kayla, the mom (which is good, since previous attempts to hand-raise calves didn't involve the mother's milk). Thankfully, SeaWorld has trained Kayla to give milk samples.
Above: Bottle-feeding, killer whale style! Three members of the SeaWorld Texas staff feed the five day old calf. Photo from Seaworld.com

October 9

The calf was born. SeaWorld determined immediately that she was female. Kayla gave birth to her in the main show pool at SeaWorld Texas (San Antonio), after 2 hours of labour. However, to the suprise and concern of everyone, Kayla ignored her almost directly after the birth. As soon as SeaWorld staff noticed that the first-time mother was ignoring her calf, they stepped in and placed the baby with a female dolphin for company. The calf was 6 ft 9 inches long, and weighed 264 pounds. Kayla seemed fine after the birth, and the calf was breathing strong and was calm when staff handled her.
Above: Kayla, the mother, in a photo from Nicole Jardine.