Day in the Life of a Baby Beluga

Oct. 24, 2006 — -- The beluga whale born recently at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium is getting her own personality, but now she needs a name, and "Good Morning America" viewers are going to help choose one.

Roger Germann, one of Shedd's directors, answers some common questions about the baby beluga, also called a calf.

To find out more about the new baby beluga, visit the Shedd Aquarium Web site by clicking here.

How Does the Baby Beluga Act?

From the start, she has been a little independent and very curious. Independence in the wild would be a bad thing, but Puiji has been a lenient mom in the safe environment of Secluded Bay. When the calf was very young, however, if Puiji felt that her baby had strayed too far, she would give a short, sharp vocalization that trainers translated as "Get back over here!"

Another interesting aspect of the calf's personality is her determination in mastering new behaviors. A beluga calf learns by mimicking mom.

The calf has spent a solid day or more practicing such maneuvers as swimming upside down and spyhopping (positioning herself vertically in the water and popping her head above the surface).

These moves require coordination and buoyancy control, and it was amusing to watch her tip over in the water or not quite turn upside down. But she never got discouraged. She has real stick-to-it-iveness!

What Does She Like to Do?

The calf spends 50 percent of her time swimming with mom, 20 percent of her time on her own, and 30 percent of her time with Naya, another beluga.

She loves to mimic mom, so when Puiji swims upside down, her calf does too. The calf is also fascinated by the four other belugas that she can see through the gate separating her pool from theirs.

And once she overcame her instinctive fear of swimming through a dark channel to another pool, she discovered what fun it is to be in our veterinary pool, which is also her mom's favorite pool.

The youngster also likes coming over to the trainers to be patted on the head. And each day divers, called the algae patrol, go into the pool to do routine cleaning. The first time, the calf peeked at the divers from over mom's back. But mom was relaxed and actually happy to swim over and mix with the divers, and the calf got the message from her behavior that these strange-looking creatures are OK.

By the time the calf was 3 weeks old, she broke away from swimming with mom to visit the divers, getting fearlessly face-to-face with them.

She is also learning about toys. A week or two ago, while mom and Naya were playing with a large inner tube, the calf accidentally brushed up against it and suddenly realized that this was something kind of fun to do.

Since then she has taken to spyhopping, or popping up, in the middle of the inner tube. She also likes to bite at the inner tube and has also been seen pushing and rubbing against other toys.

Has She Done Any Cute Things So Far?

As part of the calf's determination in mastering behaviors and maneuvers, the people who observe and take notes on her around the clock have noticed visible "a-ha" moments, when she figures something out or discovers something.

As she learns how to be a beluga, she mimics everything mom does: spyhopping, swimming upside down, rubbing against the rockwork to scratch an itch or loosen up sloughing skin, and spitting.

A beluga will blow a mouthful of water into the sandy bottom of near shore waters to stir up crustaceans and other small marine life to eat. When the calf was about 3 weeks old, she spent an entire day spitting water, practicing and getting the hang of it. We are all eagerly waiting to see if she becomes the master spitter that her mom is.

She has also discovered the joy of having her tongue tickled, and she often approaches the trainers during a session and lets them tickle her tongue.

She has learned to vocalize when her mom or Naya do and her vocalizations are surprisingly strong for such a little thing.

Is This Baby Beluga Bigger or Smaller Than Most Belugas at This Age?

The calf is growing longer and heavier by the week. Like all beluga calves, she is gray. As she sloughs her first skin, she is a darker gray than at birth. And if you compare photos of her at birth and now, you can see that her features are more defined, similar to the development of a human baby's face.

At birth, she was within normal size parameters, which are pretty loose: 100 to 175 pounds and 4 to 6 feet long.

How Big Is She Likely to Get?

By the time she's a year old, she'll weigh between 500 and 600 pounds. Her mom weighs about 1,500 pounds, so that's a reasonable estimate of her adult weight. (Nalulark, her dad, weighs about 1,800 pounds.)

If She Were Living in Her Natural Habitat, What Would Her Life be Like?

In a more natural location, the calf's life would be far more perilous and possibly shorter. Belugas live in a harsh environment in arctic and sub-arctic waters. Protection from predators, along with the calf's mother getting enough food to produce enough milk for her baby, are big factors in survivorship.

At Shedd, Puiji has lived in the Oceanarium for 15 years, and she feels comfortable and safe in the various habitats, and lets the calf explore.

It helps Puiji that there is another female beluga, Naya, with her and the calf. Naya acts as a babysitter. But in the wild, Puiji would keep the calf close to her.

Does She Eat Food Yet? If So, Are There Any Foods That She Likes?

The calf is still nursing and laying on blubber (a good thing for belugas) from her mom's high-fat, high-protein milk. The butterfat content is about 27 percent.

For comparison, half-and-half is about 11 percent, premium ice creams can run as high as 18 percent, and whipped cream is about 35 percent butterfat.

At 5 or 6 months, the beluga calf will start playing with fish and mouthing them. By about 6 months, her digestive system will have developed enough to handle a little solid food, and slowly, the fish she plays with will start to be swallowed.

But she will continue nursing, albeit less and less, until she's anywhere from a year to 18 months old.