Shedd Aquarium prepares for dolphin, beluga births

Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is getting ready for a dolphin birth in the spring and a beluga whale birth in the fall.

Aquarium officials announced the pregnancies Tuesday. Both females are healthy and doing well. Tests show the calves are healthy too.

One expectant mother is Piquet (PEE’-ket), a 24-year-old Pacific white-sided dolphin. Her name means “female of small stature.” She weighs about 200 pounds.

A male dolphin at the Miami Seaquarium named Lii (LEE’-ee) is the father.

The other pregnant marine mammal is Mauyak (My-AK’), a 30-year-old beluga whale who weighs about 1,200 pounds. Her name means “soft snow.”

A Shedd Aquarium beluga named Naluark (nah-LOO’-ark) is the father of the calf expected this fall. He is at an aquarium in Mystic, Conn., in a cooperative breeding program.