CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The votes are in and the beluga calf at the Shedd Aquarium officially has a name: Welcome Annik!
The Shedd Aquarium announced Friday the winning name of the "Pod Poll 2019" - the public vote to decide the name of their 4-month-old beluga calf. After nearly 20,000 votes cast, the winning name was Annik, which means “blizzard” in the language of the Inuit.
The voting was a weeklong and took place both on-site and online. The other options included Imavik, meaning ocean; Ikullak, meaning confident; Naniitchuk, meaning brave; and Kulu, a term of endearment for babies and young children
Annik was born July 3 and has captured the attention of many ever since. He currently weighs more than 330 pounds and has grown over a foot in length in his first four months. Annik will remain close to his mom for the foreseeable future, but he has already started interacting with the care staff at Shedd and has even been seen playing with and mouthing fish offered by trainers or shared with him by the other whales, the aquarium said in a statement.