Tokitae, also known as Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut and previously named Lolita, was a 57 year old female southern resident killer whale that lived at the Miami Seaquarium. She was captured on the 8th of August, 1970 in Penn Cove, United States, and died on the 18th of August, 2023 from a presumed chronic kidney disease. Tokitae is most notably known for being the last captured Southern Resident killer whale alive in captivity.

Early History

On the 8th of August, 1970, a whooping 100+ Southern Resident killer whales were netted in the infamous Penn Cove capture in Penn Cove, Washington. 7 whales, some of the smallest/youngest ones, were selected for captivity. For an unknown time period, they were placed in a sea pen before their transfer to the Seattle Marine Aquarium before being sold. On that exact same day, a very young female killer whale named Wally stranded 56 miles south in Port Maddison, Washington. It's believed that she got separated from her pod in the days following up to the infamous capture. She was also taken to the Seattle Marine Aquarium, where she met the 7 captured orcas, later to be named Lil' Nooka, Ramu IV, Clovis, Chappy, Jumbo, Ramu III(later known as Winston), and Tokitae. One by one, the whales were sold and transferred to different facilities across the globe. Tokitae was one of the last whales to leave the aquarium, and on the 24th of September, 1970, she arrived at the Miami Seaquarium.

Upon arrival, Tokitae was placed in what was known as the "celebrity bowl", which had previously housed another whale named Hugo, who Tokitae would later meet.

Gallery

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Many photos can be found from Inherently Wild.

Photo by Miami Seaquarium.

Photo by paiasoloco.