Keiko playing with one of the crabs in his tank.
Keiko’s tank in Oregon was made as natural as possible to prepare him for the ocean, so small sea animals like crabs was put in the tank.
Not having seen a crab during all his years in captivity in Canada and Mexico this was very new and exciting to Keiko and he would often pick up the crabs in his mouth and swim around with them. Never once did any of his trainers witness him killing a crab, in fact he was very gentle and careful with them.
This is a good example of how orcas know their own strength.This attests to Keiko’s gentle spirit after all those years of confinement…
Keiko is one of my favorite orcas because he appeared to have such a gentle heart (I know that’s not a very scientific way of putting it. Maybe I should instead say he had an inherently gentle disposition). A caretaker’s 18-month old child once fell into his tank, and Keiko rescued the child before anyone even realized what had happened. This was even added as a scene in Free Willy, and Keiko himself performed the staged rescue again flawlessly.
When he was rehabilitated and released, he would let his caretakers swim with him and lounge on his back. When he arrived in Norway after his journey from Iceland, he let local children play with him and ride on him.
And while some might argue this is all simply because he was so used to humans, I like to use this little example with the crabs to suggest otherwise. There are plenty of other captive orcas who are “used” to humans who aren’t nearly as gentle and empathetic.
Keiko was a very special individual.
Thank you, I didn’t know about the caretaker’s story being real! This non-human mammal was truly an ambassador to the human race.
