September 3, 2026

Katta-kun, the Pelican Who Went to Kindergarten

In the 1980s, a pelican from Tokiwa Park in Japan began flying to a nearby kindergarten, where he danced with the children and became part of the school day.

Every day, Katta-kun had places to go. This pink pelican called Tokiwa Park in Ube, Japan, his home, but as he grew up, he started to explore beyond the park. He would fly to nearby housing areas and the coast, and eventually discovered a kindergarten about 800 meters away. So, he decided to start going to school.

Katta-kun was born at Tokiwa Park in 1985 and became Japan's first pink pelican hatched through artificial incubation. The park's pelican colony kicked off back in 1967 when ten pink pelicans came from India, and when Katta-kun was born nearly 20 years later, he was named after Calcutta, which is now Kolkata, as a nod to where the park's pelicans originally came from.

Since Katta-kun was raised by humans, he was super comfortable around people. His keepers remembered him as gentle and trusting, even when little kids touched him or climbed on his back. And unlike most kids, Katta-kun didn’t need anyone to take him to kindergarten; he could just fly there.

The kindergarten was less than a kilometer from Tokiwa Park, so Katta-kun started making the trip by himself. Once he arrived, he wasn’t just hanging around. Old videos show him right in the mix with groups of kids. He joined them dancing to music and got really curious about his reflection in a mirror, even mistaking his own reflection for another pelican and doing some courtship moves.

As time went on, Katta-kun became a regular part of the kindergarten life. Once, they did some construction work at the school that changed the area enough that he couldn’t recognize his usual landmark from the air. Instead of giving up on his commute, he spotted teachers and kids walking along the street, flew down to meet them, and then walked the rest of the way to kindergarten with the group. By then, it was clear where he wanted to be.

News about Katta-kun and his kindergarten visits made him famous far beyond Ube. In 1989, the Japan Animal Welfare Society recognized him for being a cheerful topic of conversation all over the country. A few years later, locals even raised money to make an animated film about him called The Story of Katta-kun, which came out in 1995.

But Katta-kun just kept doing what he loved: living at Tokiwa Park and exploring the community around him. He passed away at the park on July 16, 2008, at 23 years old, and a memorial service was held in his honor, with messages coming in from all over Japan.

Katta-kun also inspired more than just fame. Other pelicans raised at Tokiwa Park followed his lead and ventured into the city. Bun and Yana, who were also raised through artificial incubation, went on to visit kindergartens, elementary schools, and junior high schools around Ube.

Katta-kun started flying out of the park simply because he could, and somewhere along the way, he found that one kindergarten he wanted to keep coming back to. Even when he couldn’t spot the building from the sky, he still knew exactly who he was going to see.

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