You have probably already read the French government’s groundbreaking decision for Wikie and Keijo to come to the sanctuary in Nova Scotia in 2026, subject to our raising the necessary funds to complete the sanctuary by the end of summer.
We tell much of their life story – both were born in the small concrete tank at Marineland Antibes where they are still languishing – in their bio here.
Wikie has seen her entire family destroyed as she clings to her life with Keijo.But my work as a neuroscientist at the Smithsonian Institution and at Emory University, where I studied the brains and fossilized remains of hundreds of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), gave me an invaluable understanding of their remarkable evolutionary history: as land animals who returned to the ocean; whose intelligence and brain capacity evolved in ways that both parallel and exceed our own; and as individuals, whose lives are as meaningful to them as ours are to us.
Wikie (born in June, 2001) and Keijo (born in November, 2020) are mother and son. Orca mothers and sons tend to bond closely, and we can only hope these strong ties have fortified them throughout their ordeal. Their story, like all other captive orcas, is one of families being ripped apart, illness, and premature death. And to recognize how much their lives have been ruined by their captivity and the abnormal circumstances they face, we need to understand what their lives would have been like if they had lived undisturbed in the ocean.
Their forebears walked on land
Cetacean ancestors evolved from land-dwelling animals over 50 million years ago. Orcas are, in fact, the largest species of dolphin, growing to 25 feet long and weighing 4-6 tons. After a long pregnancy of 18 months, mothers give birth to an infant who will take more than 15 years to mature.
Males and females can live well into their 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and older. They live in strongly bonded family groups called pods. Every pod has its own cultural traditions (dialects, eating habits, etc.) passed on through the generations by learning. Relatives and friends help raise the youngsters, share food, and assist each other when in trouble.
Their brains are over-sized and more convoluted – meaning that they have more surface area and more neocortex relative to the rest of their brain – than we humans have.
Their communication system is so complex that we have yet to decipher it.
They grieve the death of loved ones and live by a code that prohibits them from ever harming a human being in the wild.
The life they might have lived
If Wikie had been born in the ocean, she would have grown up in a close family group, being cared for by relatives and learning their culture, just as we do. As an adult, she would have chosen a time to become a mother and raise her children to become parents, in turn, and to continue the lineage.
Wikie’s two sons, Keijo and Moana, would likewise have been born into this natural community and, as male orcas often do, might have stayed close to their mothers their whole lives, riding the waves together, meeting hundreds of other species, and exploring many landscapes in their travels. They would have all had a sense of identity that provided the emotional foundation of a good life – a life that would have been shaped by their own choices.
But that was not the life that Wikie was fated to live. She would be born in a concrete tank, and the plan was for her to die in that tank.
Her mother, Sharkane, and her father, Kim 2, were captured at different times in Icelandic waters and held for a short time at a small facility in Iceland before being sold to Marineland Antibes. Some of the other whales among the two captured pods were also sold to Marineland. Others were sold to entertainment parks in Japan, the United States and Spain. The close family bonds were shattered.
In 1993, Sharkane would give birth to Shouka, in 1999 to Inouk, and in 2001 to Wikie. In 2002, Wikie’s sister Shouka would be shipped to Six Flags in Ohio and then to Six Flags California, where she would live for 10 years before being transferred to Sea World San Diego, where she is still alive.
Freya, who came from Kim 2’s group and was mated with him, would give birth, during her 12 years at Marineland, to four stillborn calves and to one survivor: Valentin.
Kim 2 would die of pneumonia in 2005 at the young age of 24. Valentin would survive another 10 years. He was Wikie’s half-brother and is generally assumed to have been the father of Wikie’s second son, Keijo, who was born in 2013.
Two years later, in October 2015, Valentin’s life would end horribly when violent storms swept through Southern France, flooding the marine mammal tanks and leaving the whales nowhere to go for protection. Photos showed all five orcas swimming around in muddy waters. The following week, Valentin died, apparently from twisted intestines.
Left to right: Inouk, Keijo, Wikie, Moana, Valentin, Freya.
In 2011, Wikie gave birth to a son, Moana, sired through artificial insemination by Ulises, who lives at SeaWorld San Diego. It was the first artificial insemination of a whale in Europe.
Moana died in 2023, aged 12, from acute bacterial sepsis. And more tragedy was to come. Early the following year, Wikie’s brother Inouk perished from subacute fibrinous enteritis peritonitis, leaving Wikie and Keijo as the sole survivors of their family at Marineland.
Wikie has seen her entire family destroyed as she clings to her life with Keijo. But since the bond between mother and son is exceptionally strong, perhaps his presence is a comfort as this tragic pair pass their empty days together – lone survivors of a destroyed family.
Giving them a better future
The story of Wikie and Keijo and their family is typical of captive whales around the world. The specific details may differ, but the outcome is always the same: families torn apart, loss of choice, and premature illness and death.
But with the French government’s decision that Wikie and Keijo should come to the sanctuary in Nova Scotia, this sad story may have a different ending. Wikie and Keijo now have a chance to experience life in ocean waters, exploring the sea grasses and chasing the birds. It is their one remaining chance for a life that can begin to make up for the suffering they’ve endured.
We shouldn’t need sanctuaries at all, but, for those like this mother and son who have spent their lives in concrete tanks, sanctuaries are the best way we can tell them that we are sorry and that we are working to give every captive whale a new and better future.
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