Shedd Aquarium - Exhibits - The Abbott Oceanarium - Beluga Whales

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.