JUNE 2, 1971
Tokitae, stolen from the ocean, and bought by the Miami Seaquarium, arrived on September 24, 1970. She was kept apart from Hugo due to concern they would fight.
“She is a pussy cat. She is a lovely feminine creature.” – GM, Burton Clark.
The two called out to each other across the park, so on June 2, 1971: Toki was removed from her tiny pool and carried across the park to join Hugo in the Whale Bowl.
Wedding Bliss: Whale of a Pain: Hugo became sullen and withdrawn after “his celebrated wedding to Lolita, the girl whale. Nearly a dozen times, in training and before audiences, Hugo has made what appeared to be direct efforts to harm the human performers.” – A. Toran, Admin. Director
Two orcas held in a tank 80ft long, 35ft wide and 20ft deep.
Unknown to the Miami Seaquarium, Hugo and Toki were captured from the Southern Resident orca population, sharing similar dialects, allowing them to communicate.
Palm Beach Post, Dec. 4, 1977: “When Hugo and Lolita are in the mood for love, they don’t want an audience and this forced the Miami Seaquarium to cancel its killer whale show three days last week. Hugo stopped performing Monday and when he doesn’t want to work, Lolita doesn’t want to work. Their mating rarely interrupts our act, but this week it definitely did.” – Eric Eimstad
Hugo and Toki performed together until he died of a brain aneurysm on March 4, 1980.
Read: Remembering Hugo
Boca Raton News, Dec. 2, 1981: “We expected problems when Hugo died, but Lolita performed, as usual, the next day. Once in a while, she would look for him, but she got over it. We’d like to get another mate for her, but there are strict laws against capturing whales in U.S waters today, the possibility exists in Greenland, but restrictions in that country are also stringent.” – Head trainer, Lou Roth.
Behavioral and Respiratory Synchronization Quantified in a Pair of Captive Killer Whales: After the death of Hugo, Toki would briefly surface to catch a breath, then would return to the bottom to continue her long bouts of submerged floating.
