Ulisses (killer whale)

Ulisses (sometimes spelled Ulises or Ulysses) is a male orca who currently lives at SeaWorld San Diego in California. He was captured on November 7, 1980 at Reydarfjördur, Iceland, when he was approximately 3 years old. He lived at several parks including the Sædyrasafnid Aquarium in Iceland (November/December 1980), and the Rioleón Safari (December 1980 to June 1983), and Barcelona Zoo (June 1983 to January 1994) in Spain, before being transported to SeaWorld in 1994.[1][2]

Ulisses Slideout at SeaWorld San Diego in 2013

Ulisses performing at SeaWorld San Diego in 2007

Ulisses does waterworks with his trainers. He gets along with his fellow orcas but will try to rake an older female Corky (II). He was also dominant over Splash when he was still at the park.[3] Ulises is recognized by his dorsal fin, which only droops halfway to his right.[4] He is currently 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 m) long and weighs 9,570 pounds (4,340 kg).[1][5][6] His nicknames are Uli, Big Dog and Uli Bear.

He sired his first offspring on March 16, 2011, when a calf was born through artificial insemination to Wikie at Marineland Antibes, France. The calf was first thought to be a female and therefore named Moana (which means ocean in Polynesian). It was later discovered that "Moana" was a male.[7][8] On December 2, 2014 Kalia, his tankmate gave birth to Ulisses's second calf, Amaya, at 12:34 pm.