A beluga whale was born in the John G. Shedd Aquarium on Monday night, marking the first such birth there since the $41 million Oceanarium opened seven years ago as a breeding habitat.
But it may be too early to break out the cigars. The calf required medical care, and aquarium officials were cautious about the newborn’s chances for survival, describing its condition as “extremely guarded.”
“The thing that’s very important to keep in mind and remember is that whales and dolphins . . . do have a high calf-mortality rate, both in wild and zoo populations,” said Amy Ritter, aquarium spokeswoman.
Ritter said that during the past decade, six belugas born in captivity have survived. She was unsure how many died.
Shedd’s new arrival was born at 8 p.m. to Mauyak, a 16-year-old beluga whose two previous calfs, born in captivity in Tacoma, Wash., did not survive.
Officials had not determined the calf’s gender or size and were monitoring it closely early Tuesday morning. The calf was in a 35-foot-deep tank with its mother.
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A typical beluga calf weighs 80 to 100 pounds and is 4 to 5 feet long, Ritter said.
Shedd officials announced in October that Mauyak was pregnant and expected to give birth this summer after a 14- to 16-month pregnancy.
It’s possible the calf, if it lives, will be sent to Tacoma. Under terms of a loan agreement with the Tacoma zoo that sent Mauyak to the Shedd, if Mauyak and Inuk, a 16-year-old male whale sent from Tacoma, have a calf together, that first calf is to be sent to Tacoma.
But the father’s identity is unclear; it could be Naluark, the Shedd’s resident male beluga who mated with her, Shedd officials said.
The birth marks a step toward one of the original goals for the huge Oceanarium, which is equipped with four whale-size pools to create an ideal breeding habitat for captive belugas.
The facility has had some setbacks, including the 1992 deaths of a male and a female beluga from a reaction to a deworming medicine.
Until the last five years, little was known about how to successfully breed belugas. The first surviving captive beluga was born in 1991. If Mauyak’s calf survives, it would be the seventh successful birth of a captive beluga baby.
Mauyak and Inuk arrived at the Shedd in March 1997 from Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo. They joined the aquarium’s resident male, Naluark, and two females, Puiji and Immiayuk, all about 11 years old. A younger female from the Shedd, Naya, went to the Tacoma zoo to join an older female there.
The move was made in the middle of the normal beluga mating season. After a couple of weeks of getting to know each other, the Shedd’s new beluga mix of three females and two males began engaging in frequent sexual encounters. Inuk, the 2,600-pound male from Tacoma, easily dominated all others, including 1,600-pound Naluark.
Both males actively mated with all three females until the breeding season ended in late May.