Birthdate: August 3rd 1999
Born at: Shedd Aquarium
Relatives: mother Immiayuk (deceased), father Inuk (deceased) and the halfbrother Qannik (deceased)
Kayavak
was born on August 3rd 1999 at Shedd Aquarium. When she was about 5
months old (on December 26th 1999) her mother Immiayuk passed away,
but fortunately Kayavak was old enough to begin to eat fish. Shedd Aquarium’s
beluga trainers began to feed Kayavak with fish every third hour. In the
beginning they had to be in the water and hold her but after a few weeks
Kayavak took fish from her trainers hands while they sat on the pool edge. Each
day Kayavak got lots of attention and lots of toys to play with. When Kayavak
was about on year old she got a halfbrother named Qannik. In 2007 Qannik was
moved to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium where he unfortunately passed away in
March 2009.
During the winter 2008-2009 Kayavak and the rest of Shedd Aquarium’s belugas lived at Mystic Aquarium as their centre at Shedd Aquarium was being re-built. Kayavak was one of the first belugas from Shedd Aquarium to arrive at Mystic Aquarium and she was also one of the first belugas to be introduced to Mystic Aquarium’s own belugas. It was on October 23rd 2008 that Kayavak was introduced to Mystic Aquarium’s belugas. One of the three belugas at Mystic is actually Kayavak’s father Inuk. In May 2009 Kayavak and the rest of the belugas were moved back to Shedd Aquarium were they live today.
Like all of Shedd Aquarium’s belugas Kayavak is trained with a symbol. Kayvak’s symbol is a blue and green bow tie. Kayavak measures 2,9 meters and weighs 430,9 kilograms (weight and length 2007). Today Kayavak participates in Shedd Aquarium's show "Fantasea".