J63 Is The First Southern Resident Calf Born In 2025 And Likely The First Calf Of J40 “Suttles”!

i love this "with mama" meme. mm yes give me more baby animals with mmama.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, also known as “Tokitae” or “Lolita”, was a Southern Resident killer whale likely from L-pod. She was born around the mid-1960s. Many suspect her mother is L25 “Ocean Sun”, but there has never been confirmation.

In August 1970, Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was one of around 80 killer whales rounded up for capture in Penn Cove, Washington. Based on her size, she was between 2-7 years old at the time. In the capture, led by Ted Griffin and Don Golsberry, 5 whales drowned and 7 whales, including Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, were taken away.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was purchased by a veterinarian at Miami Seaquarium named Jesse White for $20,000. She was transported to Miami Seaquarium in September 1970. White named her “Tokitae”, a Coast Salish word that roughly translates to “nice day” or “pretty colours” in English.

She was originally kept separately from the other orca, a male Southern Resident called Hugo. Hugo had been captured 2 years prior from Vaughn Bay, Washington.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut and Hugo would often talk to each other between tanks, Southern Residents have a unique language which includes specific dialects within their pods, meaning that the two of them were able to communicate in ways that they could not with any other population. Miami Seaquarium eventually placed them together in a single 80-by-35 ft tank. The they mated often, but never had any living calves. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was given the stage name “Lolita”.

Hugo experienced severe stress due to his situation. In March 1980, he died after ramming his head into the wall of the tank.

Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was housed with other cetaceans, but remained the only orca at the aquarium for the rest of her life. Despite her isolation, she held on to her home. She was heard multiple times throughout her decades in captivity singing a song that is only heard within L-pod.

In 2015, NOAA removed the exclusion of captive whales from the Endangered Species Act and included Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut in the listing of Southern Residents. NOAA stated there was a “strong case” that she was a Southern Resident after analysing her mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA. However, because she was captured 2 years before the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was considered “pre-Act”, meaning she did not qualify under it.

The Lummi Nation never stopped fighting for Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to be brought home. They consider her a relative. In July 2019, two Lummi women, Squil-le-he-le and Tah-mahs, invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in an attempt to bring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut home. NAGPRA gave them legal grounds to sue Miami Seaquarium if they refused to return Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to the Salish Sea.

In August 2019, the Lummi gave her the name “Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut”, which roughly translates to “member of Sk’aliCh’elh” in English. Sk’aliCh’elh being a family of orcas in the Salish sea.

Squil-le-he-le visited Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut in Miami and performed healing songs for her. Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut was very receptive to this. Squil-le-he-le was quoted saying “She was singing with me. She was vocalizing with me,” in an interview with The Planet.

In March 2023, the Miami Seaquarium (now owned by The Dolphin Company) partnered with Friends of Toki and began the process of transferring Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut to a sea pen in her home waters.

This decision was controversial given Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut’s age (around her late 50s) and her chronic health conditions. She hadn’t been transported anywhere in over 50 years, causing concern for the stress that transport to Washington could cause her. There were also concerns that she might not be able to survive the re-exposure to the bacteria in the ocean after living in a tank of clorinated water for so long, or that she could possibly expose the wild Southern Residents to the infections she developed in captivity.

Others, especially the Lummi, argued that she deserved to live the remainder of her life in her home waters, which she clearly remembered.

In August 2023, the Miami Seaquarium announced that Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut had passed away. Her cause of death was attributed to multiple chronic health conditions. On the day of her death, over 3000 miles away, members of all 3 Southern Resident pods (J,K, and L) were gathered together in what is known as a “superpod”. Gatherings of multiple Southern Resident pods have become more rare in recent years.

The Lummi were not consulted before the autopsy was performed.

Finally, in September 2023 her ashes were returned home and there were multiple ceremonies laying her to rest.

No Southern Resident had been seen in Penn Cove since the captures in the 1970s, but in November 2024, L-pod returned. Among them was Ocean Sun.

Footage: Kat Martin, ScubaFilmFactory, Miami Herald, KING 5 Seattle, AnaCarlaNJ, H2Omammals, DaddysJournie, KING 5 Seattle

Audio: Susannah Joffe, sacredsea.org

Since many facilities already successfully keep bottlenose dolphins in sea pens, would it be that much harder to build one for killer whales? Just curious.

In theory no… it would just need to be quite a bit larger! In practice, though, it would be more difficult. Bottlenose are right at home in warm coastal tropical and subtropical waters, like Florida, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. These places also draw tourists year round, which means constant income. Cetaceans are expensive to house, and sea pens require constant upkeep to prevent them from succumbing to the inevitable wear and tear of tides and salt.

A sea pen for orcas would need to be in much colder waters (which is why Sea Shepherd’s proposal to build a pen in the Mediterranean was ridiculous), which don’t tend to draw as crowds quite as big as tropical destinations. So you have much larger animals that need much more space, much more food, therefore much more money… but much less income. And that’s not even getting into the issues of staffing.

Since I’m assuming you’re referring to the idea of a sea pen for the orcas currently in captivity, I’ll touch on that briefly. Cetaceans that have spent their whole lives in highly filtered environments tend to have weaker immune systems than those in natural ocean water—one of the valid complaints about artificial tank habitats in my opinion. They just aren’t getting much antigenic stimulation. Some still do okay transitioning to sea pens, but others don’t, and it’s hard to predict how they’ll respond. And for some of the older individuals, like Katina and Corky, the stress alone of such a massive change might be too much.

So yeah, in theory, nothing wrong with a sea pen! In practice though, might be more difficult than many make it out to be.

Today's Seals Are: MAMA, LOOK!

please stop calling the california sea lions that are acting abnormally “demonic”. they are experiencing domoic acid toxicosis. domoic acid (DA) is a neurotoxin that is made by an algae called pseudo-nitzschia australis. fish eat the algae and the sea lions eat the fish. this buildup of DA in their system is what causes the behaviours we’re seeing. symptoms of DA toxicosis include: lethargy, disorientation, unpredictable behaviour, seizures, brain damage, and eventually death.

as far as we know, there have only been two unprovoked sea lion attacks on beaches. the vast majority of sea lions with DA toxicosis are not aggressive unless provoked. they are disoriented and they are acting out of fear.

DA is naturally occurring, but the algal blooms of pseudo-nitzschia australis have been increasing due to rising temperatures from climate change and water pollution. we are doing this to them.

affected sea lions seem to have pretty much a 50% chance of survival with treatment. they need IV fluids to flush out the toxin and some will need seizure medication as well. the marine mammal care center is completely overwhelmed with the amount of sick sea lions they are taking in and they need funding to keep up. you can donate to them here.

always stay at least 45 meters / 50 yards away from marine mammals! it protects both them and us!

California sea lion

// full illustration for @seaunseenzine vol.3 // this piece is on Inprnt

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