Shedd’s baby beluga doing well
The Shedd Aquarium’s most recent addition to its beluga whale family is doing swimmingly.
Now 2½ weeks old, the calf — a male, it was revealed Tuesday — has not been named.
Mammal experts and resident veterinarians at the Shedd are watching the calf around the clock in its early weeks of life, tracking its growth using computer software.
The baby has not been integrated with the rest of the belugas; he and his mother, 38-year-old Mauyak, are in a separate area.
Steve Aibel, the Shedd’s senior director of marine mammals, said keeping the calf by his mother is crucial at this stage in order to nurse.
It will be about “30 to 60 days” before staff no longer will have to closely monitor the calf, and the calf can begin to be “slowly integrated” into the larger group of belugas, Aibel said Tuesday.
This is not Mauyak’s first birth. In 2012, she gave birth to a calf named Kimalu.
What the Shedd is learning from this calf ’s birth is how parents learn from past births.
“We’re learning that experience changes the way that [beluga] moms mother,” Aibel said. “Mauyak is still very attentive, but attentive differently.”
After what Aibel called a “quick” 33-minute birth on July 3, the calf seems to be growing just fine.
The calf was 142 pounds at birth. He passed his first veterinary exam with “flying colors,” and all his nursing numbers were “within norms,” Aibel said.
“You hate to use words like ‘perfect,’” Aibel said, “but this calf is certainly on track.”