Lolita (orca) - Early Life

Early Life

On August 8, 1970 Lolita along with seven others were caught in Puget Sound to be sold to marine parks and aquariums. Tokitae, as she was originally named, was purchased by Seaquarium veterinarian Dr. Jesse White for about $6,000. On arriving to the Seaquarium Lolita joined another Southern Resident Orca named Hugo who was captured some time before Lolita and had lived in the park two years before her arrival. At first they were housed apart so they would not fight but they were eventually put together. Tokitae was renamed Lolita “after the heroine in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel by The News.”

She and Hugo lived together in what is known as the Whale Bowl. Hugo and Lolita got along well with each other during the years they spent together but on the morning of March 4, 1980 staff arrived to find a lifeless Hugo. “We found her bumping up against Hugo’s body. It’s impossible to know what she was thinking. They were very protective of one another when one of them was sick. I’d just like to forget about that day.” recalls trainer Eimstad. Hugo had suffered a brain aneurism after being lethargic for several weeks. “We expected problems when Hugo died but Lolita performed as usual the next day,” trainer Lou Roth recalls. “Once in a while she would look for him, but she got over it.” A study published in 1986 noted that Lolita suffered from disturbed sleep patterns and appeared to show signs of bereavement following Hugo's death. Even though the pair had bred many times (once to the point of suspending shows) the two never produced any live offspring.