Nyar (pronounced ny-AR) was a 2-year-old female Icelandic killer whale who lived at SeaWorld Orlando. She was born there tail-first on December 31st, 1993. Her mother was Gudrun and her father was Tilikum. Nyar passed away due to immune system failure on April 1st, 1996 at SeaWorld Orlando.
Birth & Early Life[]
On December 31st, 1993, Gudrun went into labor, assisted by Katina and her young calf, Taku. After a 90-minute labor, she gave birth to a seemingly healthy female calf. The four whales were seen swimming together within minutes of the birth. By the time Nyar was a few months old, she was often playing and hanging out with Taku, and her half-sister Taima. However, when Nyar was around 5 months old, staff began to notice that she wasn't making any progress like other calves around her age do. Nyar struggled to swim normally and also had delays in her mental development.
Nyar’s mother, Gudrun, also took notice of her mentally and physically disabled calf. As a result, she attacked and attempted to drown Nyar. Trainers immediately separated the two, resulting in Nyar having to be hand-raised by her caregivers. Blood tests revealed that Nyar had a very weak immune system. This meant that if she caught any harmless disease, it could become severe and possibly kill her. It was also found that she had cognitive difficulties, which was the reason for her slow mental development. Because of her many health problems, Nyar was never put in shows. She was later introduced to Tilikum, who was very gentle with her, and the two got along well.
Life at SeaWorld Orlando[]
Nyar continued to make very little progress in her development. Her poor motor skills caused her to list to one side when swimming, and was often kept away from the public in the back pools due to her poor condition. A four-person team of trainers and a three-person team of veternarians were assigned to exclusively care for Nyar all hours of the day.
Further blood tests showed that Nyar suffered from immunosuppression. Frequent physical examinations were done on her, and she had blood drawn from her tail flukes so often that it looked like a "heroin addict's arm". Because of her pre-mature separation from her mom, she was tube-fed formula. Getting Nyar weaned off of formula was a long process. Trainers had to regularly “force-feed” fish to her, which led to trainers' hands being bit, followed by constant thrashing from the whale. One trainer's hand got so swollen they had to discontinue the procedure. But eventually, Nyar began to willingly eat fish.
Gudrun's Death[]
About a year after Nyar's birth, Gudrun became pregnant for a third time. She went into labor on February 21st, 1996. However, it was found that the calf had no heartbeat, and it was later pronounced deceased. After hours of labor, Gudrun still had not given birth to the calf's body, so staff decided to intervene. They removed the body, but Gudrun began to hemorrhage severely. After four days of sitting motionless in the pool, Gudrun went to the gate separating her from Nyar and nuzzled her estranged daughter through the bars. A few hours later, she passed away from stillbirth complications.
Death[]
Just over a month after Gudrun passed away, trainers noticed that Nyar seemed uncomfortable and was having difficulty breathing. Specialists were called in to treat her, but Nyar passed away an hour later on April 1st, 1996. At the time of her death, she was around 600 pounds underweight. [1]
Galleries[]
- Photos of Nyar
- Videos of Nyar