Deia is the second beluga whale born at the Primorsky Aquarium. She is ten months old now, and she is starting to eat adult food. Just three weeks ago, the solid food she ate was an amount of a small saucer: only several pieces of herring and a pair of smelt. Her diet at the moment, however, includes as much as a kilogram of fish per day. Moreover, dolphin trainers have recently announced great news: the calf is teething!
The offspring of all mammals develop according to the same natural algorithm. The young feed on the mother’s milk, then try other kinds of food together with the milk and only later are entirely weaned to eat normal solid food typical for their species. The immunity of nursing infants depends on the mother’s milk. When weaning begins, their immune system undergoes stress. Anton Brykov, Head of the Marine Mammal Division, explained, why this period in the life of the young beluga, though joyful, is still extremely challenging and demands special attention and responsible attitude of the dolphin trainers and other involved team members of the Dolphinarium.
“It is very important for keepers to stick to the dietary recommendations and not to overfeed the calf,” he said. “We must increase the amount of fish gradually, bit by bit. If Deia eats too much of it, she may refuse to suck milk, which is bad both for her and her mom. It is also essential to keep her pool clean during this period and to remove any unnecessary objects from the water. Similar to human infants, white whale calves may chew anything they can reach, especially when teething.”
As you may remember, Deia is the second calf of Jessica. She was born on 13 May 2024 and now she shares the pool with her mom and her three-year-old sister Kalina. The Primorsky Aquarium is the first in Russia to successfully breed beluga whales, now twice.