Brookfield Zoo has a new baby dolphin.
Experienced mom of four Tapeko, 31, gave birth Wednesday to the 40-pound little boy. Zoo officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the calf is healthy and doing well, the zoo announced in a news release Thursday afternoon.
“We know that the first 30 days are extremely critical in the calf’s life,” Rita Stacey, marine mammal curator for the Chicago Zoological Society, said in a news release. Two of Topeko’s babies, Allison, 7, and Noelani, 9, also are at the zoo.
The dolphin shows have been temporarily canceled to give mom and baby time to bond. The Seven Seas underwater viewing gallery will remain open.
Another calf is expected later this fall when Spree, 11, gives birth to her first.
The zoo’s last bottlenose dolphin calf, a baby girl, died in August “after a sudden and rapid decline.”
