ABOUT MARIS
Maris was born July 28, 1994, at the New York Aquarium. She came to the Georgia Aquarium in 2005. She weighs about 1,500 pounds.
Her calf was sired by Beethoven, who is currently at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, on a breeding loan. Maris gave birth once before, in 2012, to an infant also sired by Beethoven. That calf did not survive.
A female beluga gives birth to one calf at a time, usually in late spring or early summer.
The average weight of a newborn beluga calf is 136 to 196 pounds; the average length is 5 feet.
Most calves nurse until they are 24 months old, though they can be weaned at 18 months.
Maris, the pregnant beluga whale, seems remarkably chipper, considering she’s carrying a 100-pound baby.
During a recent afternoon at the Georgia Aquarium, the snow white cetacean glided through her 800,000-gallon enclosure, chattering, whistling and honking when she broke the surface, rubbing her stomach against the underwater window that looks in from the Ocean Ballroom.
Animal care and training specialist Katie Lorenz knelt by the side of Maris’ pool with a bucket full of lime-colored gelatin, capelin, herring and squid. At signals from Lorenz, Maris nodded her bulbous head, opened her perpetually smiling mouth, then rolled over and stretched out on her back, drifting slowly away.
Lorenz ran her hand down Maris’ 11-foot body, softly massaging the edge of the whale’s tail fin. With a quick somersault, Maris was back in position, ready for a snack. Lorenz tossed her a fish, and rubbed her hand back and forth over the whale’s tongue.
The interaction is a form of training. Maris is positively reinforced for certain behaviors — for example, floating on her back — that make it easy for veterinarians to conduct ultrasounds, or other physical examinations. It’s also a form of therapy, a way to help ease the stress of being pregnant. As she approaches the end of her 15-month gestation period, Maris seems to want more back rubs and other physical contact. And Lorenz’s daily contact helps strengthen the bond between the trainer and the animal.
But most of all, it’s a good way to get another meal into the expectant mother. She needs to eat often because she’s consuming 31,000 calories a day. That’s 20 kilos of fish and other tasty morsels.
The aquarium has had an eventful spring. Jose Luis Barbero, a trainer slated to become a senior vice president at the downtown attraction, was accused of mistreating dolphins in his care in Spain, then he disappeared. His body was discovered several days later, his death treated as a suicide.
While dealing with that tragedy, aquarium officials are hoping for some good news. That news could come in the form of a new baby beluga, due to arrive in the next month and a half.
But it is a tense time.
Maris’ first pregnancy, in 2012, produced an underweight calf unable to swim on its own. Divers had to rescue the infant, and it survived only a few days, succumbing to a combination of physical problems.
There are many indications that this infant is healthier, according to Gregory D. Bossart, senior vice president of animal health, research and conservation.
Maris, who is 20 years old, has gained weight steadily, and ultrasound examinations reveal that her offspring is a good size and has a strong heartbeat.
Her caregivers are taking no chances. As the due date approaches, Dr. Tonya Clauss and her team of veterinarians will take up a 24-hour watch at the aquarium, bunking on inflatable mattresses during the evening shift.
To better gauge when that day will arrive, they are conducting more frequent ultrasound examinations, taking the whale’s temperature more often and observing her respiration rate and physical behavior.
A team of divers will be available around the clock, and when the delivery occurs, three will be stationed in the pool, ready to spring into action.
The aquarium’s two other belugas, Qinu, 6, and Grayson, 7, will be temporarily barred from Maris’ pool during delivery, according to head trainer Dennis Christen. Once it is clear that the infant is healthy, nursing and has bonded with the mother, the two younger belugas will be allowed inside. Animal care specialists hope that Qinu, a pre-adolescent female, will have a chance to observe Maris in action, and will learn about raising children of her own.
“We are,” said Bossart, “guardedly optimistic.”
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