Richard Collins: Animal culture and the tragic tale of Free Willy star Keiko the orca

Orcas ‘talk’ to each other constantly but after being set free, poor Keiko never mastered the local dialect

Keiko, the famous killer whale. Picture: AP Photo/Don Ryan

In her influential book The Animal Mind, Kristin Andrews devotes a chapter to ‘culture’. Animals don’t read Shakespeare or listen to Beethoven. ‘Culture’, in this context, denotes "long-lasting group behavioural patterns or informational resources that are transmitted via social learning". She cites a famous example; the sad tale of Keiko, the orca.

In 1979 three-year-old Keiko was taken from the sea off Iceland. ‘Groomed’ in a dolphinarium, he ‘acted’ in the film Free Willy, becoming a Hollywood celebrity. When his movie career ended, pressure from adoring fans led to a $20 million attempt to return him to the ocean.