{"id":174631,"date":"2025-12-03T14:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=174631&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:59:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T05:59:59","slug":"long-running-dolphin-performer-oki-chan-dies-at-52","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/long-running-dolphin-performer-oki-chan-dies-at-52\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-Running Dolphin Performer Oki-chan Dies at 52"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium announced on December 2 that Oki-chan, a female bottlenose dolphin estimated to be 52, had died after several months of declining health. She had performed in shows since the 1975 Okinawa International Ocean Expo, appearing for nearly half a century alongside <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Muku<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a male dolphin of similar age. The aquarium said their longevity represented the world\u2019s longest known care period for their species, far exceeding the average captive lifespan of about 20 years. Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki issued a statement expressing appreciation for Oki-chan\u2019s long contribution to tourism and wishing for her peaceful rest. <\/span><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/churaumi.okinawa\/topics\/1764640995\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\u201c_blank\u201d><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-174626\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fnn_churaumi-okichan_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C924&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Long-Running Dolphin Performer Oki-chan Dies at 52\" width=\"1400\" height=\"924\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fnn_churaumi-okichan_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fnn_churaumi-okichan_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C198&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fnn_churaumi-okichan_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C676&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fnn_churaumi-okichan_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C507&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>Photo from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium Official Website<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium announced on December 2 that Oki-chan, a female bottlenose dolphin estimated to be 52&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":174626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-174631","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-okinawa-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/174631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}