Shedd says beluga calf to be named Miki
Posted December 20, 2007 10:00 pm
The votes are in and the Shedd Aquarium says its four-month-old beluga whale calf will be named Miki (MEE'-kee), an Inuit word for "little."
Nearly 9,000 votes were cast during a three-week contest to name the 220-pound male whale.
Aquarium officials say the calf is six feet long and may grow to be 600 pounds by the time he's a year old.
A fully grown adult male beluga can weigh more than 2,000 pounds.
Miki's healthy and has already been introduced to the other beluga whales at the Chicago aquarium.
The name Miki beat out four other Inuit names, including Nunavik (NOO'-nak-vik), Kimalu (KEE'-mah-loo), Paqaq (PAH'-kak) and Akiak (AH'-kee-ahk).
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