Beluga Whales
In 2000, Mauyak gave birth to Qannik, who was sent to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma where he died in 2009. In 2006, the Beluga whale Puiji gave birth to a female calf, later named Bella. On August 16, 2007 Mauyak gave birth yet again to a male calf named Miki, the Inuit word for small, bringing the total number of successful beluga calf births at the aquarium to four since 1999.
Kayavak, a young beluga whale, is one of the most famous residents of the Oceanarium. The whale became an orphan at only five months old after her mother, Immiayuk, died. Trainers fed Kayavak fish, cared for her day and night, taught her how to "be a whale," and she thrived to be the healthy adult she is today.
Puiji, another of the Shedd Aquarium's beluga Whales, gave birth to a 162-pound, five-foot, four-inch male calf on December 14, 2009. Although it was a difficult birth, the calf survived and debuted to the public on Sunday, January 24, 2010. He has since been named "Nunavik" meaning "friendly, beautiful, and wild".
Another female Beluga, named Naya, gave birth on December 20 to a 162-pound, five-foot two-inch male calf, though the calf died two days later from complications during birth. Puiji died on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 following a seizure after having been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed medical condition over the course of several months.
Read more about this topic: Shedd Aquarium, Exhibits, The Abbott Oceanarium
Other articles related to "beluga whales, belugas, beluga, whales, whale":
... Wild Arctic is home to five Beluga whales Ferdinand (M), Ruby (F), Allua (F), Nanuq (M), and Pearl (F) ... The belugas also share their exhibit with several Pacific harbor seals ... The park's belugas regularly participate in Beluga Interaction Programs and Wild Arctic Up-Close Tours ...
... scientists who claimed that hunting was the only factor causing the whales' decline and that the hunting had been effectively controlled through cooperative agreements with Alaska Native ... research states that hunting controls have halted the decline of beluga whales in Cook's Inlet but that the population remains severely depleted and at ... Federal scientists do not attribute the decline in the Cook Inlet beluga population to human pollution ...
... The zoo used to house belugas ... In March 2009 one of the two belugas, Qannik, died of a blood infection ... A previous couple of belugas, Millie and Christy, died almost in unison in 2000 ...
... Thousands of beluga whales, which move into the warmer waters of the Churchill River estuary during July and August to calf, are a major summer attraction ...
... Friendship Cove The world's largest whale habitat for viewing orcas above ground and below ... Until the 2006 season, guests were able to pet and feed the killer whales ... The 'Splash Sessions' include the whales jumping and splashing the guests around the walls of the pool ...
Famous quotes containing the word whales:
“America loves the representation of its heroes to be not just larger than life, but stupendously, awesomely bigger than anything else. If blue whales built statues to each other they’d be smaller then these.”
—Simon Hoggart (b. 1946)