K'yosha (pronounced kay-YOH-shah) was a 3-month-old female hybrid killer whale calf who lived at the Vancouver Aquarium. She was born there on September 30th, 1991. Her mother was Bjossa, an Icelandic killer whale, and her father was Hyak II, a Northern resident killer whale, making K'yosha 50% Icelandic, 50% Northern resident. K'yosha passed away due to meningitis, meningoencephalitis, and ventriculitis on January 4th, 1992 at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Birth and Early Life[]
K'yosha was born at the Vancouver Aquarium on September 30th, 1991 to Bjossa. She was her second calf. Bjossa's first calf had died after Bjossa failed to produce enough milk, so the aquarium hired a lactation consultant to make sure everything was going well with K'yosha. Initially, they reported that everything seemed to be normal. [1]
However, it became clear that, once again, Bjossa was unable to produce enough milk for her calf. On October 25th, the two were separated and K'yosha was bottlefed by her keepers. While separated from her mother, she was housed with a Pacific white-sided dolphin named Whitewings for companionship. There were plans to reunite her with Bjossa once she was weaned. [2]
K'yosha was named in December via a contest that attracted over 2,000 entries. The winning name, K'yosha, was a combination of letters from the names of her mother, Bjossa, and her late father, Hyak II. [3]
Death[]
Initially, K'yosha did better and gained weight after being separated from Bjossa. [3] On the morning of January 4th, 1992, her condition quickly deteriorated and she began to appear disoriented, colliding with pool walls. Despite immediate veterinary care and support, her condition continued to worsen until 10:30PM that night. She had passed away from a brain infection associated with Aspergillus fumigatus. Due to the infection, K'yosha had developed meningitis, meningoencephalitis, and ventriculitis. Though the source of the infection wasn't confirmed, it was likely hematogenous (originating in or carried by the blood.)
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