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As she grew older Amaya, along with Makani, were used by SeaWorld and killer whale researchers in calf growth-rate studies. By her first birthday Amaya was already learning very basic behaviors. Amaya often mimicked the older whales, and would even try to copy them in presentations when they did behaviors. As Makani was just about a year older than her, Amaya grew especially close to him, and the 2 young whales could often be seen playing and exploring together. It wasn't long until she was interacting with toys,, playing with her uncle, and even spending time around the other whales at the park. By 2 months old Amaya was spending more time playing with her uncle and was even interacting with guests. By the time she was a month and a half old Amaya was comfortable swimming on her own away from her mother. Amaya even started to try fish around the same time. She was introduced to some of the parks other whales, such as Orkid, at less than a month old. She quickly showed herself to be independent calf and a strong swimmer even from a very early age. At just about 2 weeks old Amaya was ready to make brief appearances in shows alongside her mother. Kasatka was still staying near her daughter, and she even took turns swimming with Amaya while Kalia rested. Īt just a few days old Amaya was already able to swim through gates with her mother. The name "Amaya" won by a landslide, and her name was officially announced on January 23rd, 2015. The choices were "Amaya", an Arabic name that means "night rain", "Kissa", an African name that means "first born daughter", and "Nasia", a Greek name that means "immortal". On January 21st, 2015, SeaWorld announced on their Facebook page that they were holding a vote for the name of the baby. On December 18th, 2014, it was revealed that Kalia's calf was a female. At the time of her birth 10 other whales lived at SeaWorld San Diego: her mother, her grandmother, who happened to be the matriarch of the San Diego pod, her uncles, her father Ulises, her grand-father Keet, her great-uncle Ikaika, as well as Shouka, Orkid, and Corky II, 3 older females who were close with Kasatka and her family. Within a few minutes Kalia's calf was safely swimming between her mother, her grandmother, and her uncle Makani, and she was nursing just a few hours after that. Although the calf hit the wall of the tank almost immediately after emerging from her mother, she was not injured. Kasatka immediately rushed to escort her new grand-daughter to the surface for her first breathe of air, and Kalia followed her just seconds later. After over 2 hours of labor, at 12:34 pm, the calf was born. Makani and Kalia's older brother Nakai were also there. Kasatka, Kalia's mother, was present during her labor and diligently stayed by her daughter's side. Trainers first noticed that the calf's flukes had emerged at 10:20 am. Finally, on December 2nd, 2014, on a cold, stormy morning just weeks before her 10th birthday, Kalia went into labor. As Kalia had been already pregnant for about 17 months, trainers suspected that the birth was imminent. On November 30th trainers noticed that Kalia's body temperature had dropped by 1 degree. It is unknown if Amaya was conceived naturally or not. SeaWorld artificially inseminated Kalia once with sperm from Ulises, although the pair mated naturally many times before and after that.
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Finally on April 29th, 2014, SeaWorld confirmed that Kalia was indeed pregnant. Video footage was even released of Kalia's ultrasounds in mid-April of 2014. For months before Amaya's birth there were rumors that her mother Kalia was pregnant with her first calf. The time that she spent with her mother and Makani would soon prepare her to care for her own calf. Kalia was present for his birth and she often spent time with him. In early 2013, Amaya's uncle and Kalia's younger brother Makani was born.