2 bottlenose dolphins soon to give birth at Brookfield Zoo
Brookfield Zoo in Chicago's western suburbs is preparing to welcome some bottlenose dolphin calves.
The zoo said it is preparing for dolphins Allison and Allie to give birth this year. Allison is due in the late summer or early fall, while Allie is due in the winter.
The zoo explained that its animal care and veterinary teams are supporting the two dolphins with specialized training and health monitoring , including blood tests and weekly ultrasounds.
The two dolphins are not starting from the same place. The zoo noted that Allison hasn't had too many opportunities to care for a newborn calf, while Allie is an experienced mother.
For Allison, the zoo is focusing on reinforcing her instinctive maternal behaviors while building her familiarity with the routines she'll need to care for a newborn calf.
One such route is "feeding on the fly," that is, eating while swimming with her calf in tow.
"A newborn calf is constantly learning–and constantly swimming alongside mom," Mark Gonka, director of behavioral husbandry and interim director of marine mammal care and conservation at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, said in a news release. "Feeding on the fly allows mom to get the nutrition she needs while keeping her calf safely in her wake as it learns important early-life behaviors. It's one of the many ways we're preparing both Allison and Allie for the realities of caring for a newborn."
Meanwhile, Allie lost a calf just last year due to complications during birth, and thus, her expected due date in the winter carries special meaning.
The zoo said no two dolphin births are exactly the same, and the zoo will learn from Allison and Allie as part of decades' worth of work to better understand bottlenose dolphin reproduction, maternal care, early calf development, and communication.
