Kasatka was born ca 1976 and caught off Tvisker, Iceland, along with a pod mate in October 1978. They joined youngsters Katina, Kotar and Shawn in a pool in Iceland, before going to North America. Kasatka went with the others to San Diego while her pod mate Kahana was sent to Florida.

She spent years touring San DiegoAurora (Ohio) with Katina, before going with her to Orlando in 1994, where Katina was meant to stay to give birth. There, Kasatka reunited with Kahana, and it was now Kahana's turn to tour with Kasatka.

They missed Kalina's birth, but in the fall of 1985, returning to Orlando after the summer season, they met baby Kalina. They kept going back and forth between Ohio and Florida every summer, until 1987, when they were instead sent to San Diego for the winter season, meeting Kenau (who Kasatka knew since her previous stay in San Diego), Corky, Orky and Knootka.

Kahana was moved in the spring of 1988 to Ohio alone, this time to stay for years, while Kasatka was moved a few months before to the brand new San Antonio along with Kenau, who was pregnant with Orky. Kasatka witnessed the birth of Kayla, and became pregnant by Kotar not long after.

Kahana came to San Antonio in early 1990, but it's unlikely she and Kasatka met again, as she was sent the next month to San Diego, the 15th and final transfer of her life. In the summer of 1991, she gave birth to her daughter Takara, who is today the matriarch of San Antonio, where Kasatka herself was the star almost thirty years ago.

Despite being neither the biggest nor the oldest, Kasatka became the leader and matriarch of the largest pod of killer whales in human care so far eleven whales (20142017). She gave birth to her first son Nakai in 2001, and was then the first killer whale to be successfully artificially inseminated.

Shortly after, she became a grandmother as Takara gave birth to Kohana. In 2004, after the move of Takara and Kohana, she gave birth to Kalia. Then in 2013, to her second son, Makani. Less than two years later, in 2014, Kasatka was a grandmother again as Kalia gave birth to Amaya.

Kasatka had been battling an infection for about eight years, when she suddenly became much worse in 2017. Now over forty years old (an age only a fraction of wild killer whales reach), she got bad discolorations and peeling skin either as a symptom, or a sideeffect of the medication.

The medical sciences of cetaceans is very young (only 50 years ago, we gave them medicine meant for livestock and humans), and nothing quite like this had ever been seen before. Nevertheless, bacterial infections, especially in the respiratory system, is one of the most common causes of death in cetaceans, both in human care and the wild.

On August 15th, 2017, 41 year old Kasatka went to sleep for the last time, surrounded by the people and whales who loved her and who were her true family, regardless of what blood relatives she might have in Iceland, if any.

She touched tens of millions of people over her nearly four decades at SeaWorld, and contributed to science that will help hundreds if not thousands of her kind in the wild.