CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Shedd Aquarium happily announces its latest arrival!
The Shedd Aquarium announced Thursday that Mauyak, a 38-year-old beluga whale gave birth to a healthy calf on Wednesday, July 3 at 7:23 p.m.
“This is a humbling and fulfilling moment for our animal care teams, who have been preparing Mauyak for her big delivery for more than a year,” said Peggy Sloan, chief animal operations officer at Shedd, in a statement. “Every pregnancy and birth brings significant information for both populations in accredited aquariums and their endangered counterparts in the wild.”
This is the second birth for Mauyak. Her last calf, Kimalu, was born in 2012. Kimalu was previously the most recent beluga whale birth at Shedd, making this recent birth the first beluga calf to be born at the aquarium in seven years.
The Shedd Aquarium will continue to post updates on the calf and its mother, Mauyak, on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed.