Tokitae (Lolita)

Tokitae (Lolita)
Lolita. Photo provided by CetaBreaker.
Sex	Female
Date of Capture	August 8th, 1970
Approx. Age at Capture	4 years old
Place of Capture	Penn Cove, Washington
Matriline	L25s
Physical Traits
Weights	- 7,500 lbs (2004)
Lengths	- 20 ft (2004)
Ecotype	Southern Resident (L Pod)
Family
Mother	L25 “Ocean Sun”
Half-Siblings	L23 "Tsunami"
Nieces and Nephews	L14 “Cordy”, L49 "Tarazed"

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut (pronounced SKAH-lee-CHUKH-tah-NOT), more widely known as Toki (toh-KEE), Tokitae (toh-KEE-tay), or Lolita (low-LEE-tuh), is an approximately 55-year-old female Southern Resident killer whale who lives at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, Florida. She and Corky are the oldest living orcas in captivity. She is believed to be the daughter of L25 "Ocean Sun". She is also the last living Southern Resident killer whale in captivity.

Early Life and Capture

Toki was captured on August 8th, 1970 in the infamous 1970 Penn Cove capture. She was captured along with Clovis, Jumbo, Lil' Nooka, Winston, Ramu IV, and Chappy. All seven orcas were held at the Seattle Aquarium after capture. Dr. Jesse White, a marine mammal veterinarian, went to the aquarium to pick out a whale for the Miami Seaquarium, a marine mammal park in Miami, Florida. He selected Toki, and named her "Tokitae" after a Coast Salish greeting meaning "bright day, pretty colors". Dr. White is said to have seen something special in the whale.

Life at the Miami Seaquarium

Toki was moved to the Miami Seaquarium on September 24th, 1970. There, her name was changed to Lolita. She was housed in the Seaquarium's brand new orca tank, kept separately from their other killer whale, a Southern Resident male named Hugo who had been captured two years earlier, since there was concern the two would fight. After hearing them call out to each other, it was decided to put them together. Fortunately, the two got along.

Toki and Hugo lived and performed together for ten years. Occasionally, the pair would get aggressive towards trainers. Trainer Manny Valesco recalled both whales becoming aggressive and lunging at trainers on the platform. Toki, however, was generally less aggressive than Hugo and trainers preferred working with her as a result. Over the years, Toki likely fell pregnant several times, but she never delivered a live calf.

On March 4th, 1980, Hugo passed away due to a brain aneurysm. Toki was back to performing the next day, and though she would occasionally look for her companion, she reportedly "got over the loss". Over the years she was kept with several different cetaceans for company, including a pilot whale, a Risso's dolphin, a short-beaked common dolphin and several differant Pacific white-sided dolphins. She currently lives with four Pacific white-sided dolphins: Loke, Li'i, Catalina and Elelo. Also Li'i and Catalina live in the same pool as her, Loke and Elelo live in a separate pool from her.

In 2019, Toki was given the name Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut by the Lummi nation, who consider her to be their relative. That same year, two different Lummi women invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in hopes of bringing Toki back to her home waters. There have been several proposals for sea pens for Toki, although no plans have been set in place so far.

In September of 2021, a damning 17-page report was released by the USDA that revealed the concerning conditions that Tokitae, along with dozens of other animals at the Miami Seaquarium, were living in. In January of 2021, Miami Seaquarium's Training Curator decreased Toki's base from 160 pounds to 130, despite objections from the attending veterinarian. The training curator also decided, again against the attending vet's advice, that Toki should continue to perform high-energy behaviors such as high-jumps and fast swims during shows. Not only were these behaviors over-exerting her and causing her to become winded, but they also caused her to injure herself. During a behavior, likely a fast swim, she hit her lower jaw against her tiny pool and had an injury for at least a month. In late February of 2021, Toki and the rest of the cetaceans at the park were fed foul-smelling and partially decomposing capelin, once again against the advice of the attending veterinarian. The bad fish was fed to the cetaceans for 8 days. Several animals, including Toki, became sick or showed abnormal behavior and blood results. Blood work indicated that Toki had developed inflammation. In April of 2021, Toki developed eye injuries due to an excess level of chlorine in the water. During the inspection in June, the USDA discovered inconsistencies in the levels of free and total chlorine, and that the levels of total chlorine were only tested once a week for almost a year. The USDA also reported that Toki's habitat did not have proper shade, and that guests were sitting their children down and dangling objects such as phones and cameras within reach of Toki. The USDA required the Miami Seaquarium fix many of these issues within a year or less. Following these revelations, the animal rights group PETA demanded that the Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle investigate and charge the Miami Seaquarium with animal cruelty.

Transfer History

Tokitae’s Transfer History

FROM:	TO:	ON:
Penn Cove, Washington	Penn Cove Sea Pen, Washington	Aug. 08, 1970
Penn Cove Sea Pen, Washington	Seattle Marine Aquarium, Washington	Aug. ??, 1970
Seattle Marine Aquarium, Washington	Miami Seaquarium, Florida	Sep. 14, 1970