More Photos And Video Of Shedd Aquarium's Newborn Dolphin

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 1, 2012 9:05PM

The Shedd Aquarium shared more photos and video of its adorable newborn Pacific white-sided dolphin, including a video of the wee thing nursing. The newborn still doesn't have a name, since veterinarians haven't been able to determine its gender. That's actually a good thing.

“Piquet is a wonderfully attentive mom, so we have not needed to provide hands-on care, which would allow us to confirm the calf’s gender,” Shedd veterinarian Caryn Poll said in the statement.

Both mother and baby are doing well, and it's quickly learning important behaviors like slip-streaming, a technique where the calf saves energy by swimming next to Piquet in
her wake. Also, it's learning to mimic its mother.

“It’s been very exciting the past few days as our animal care team has seen a number of firsts for the calf,” said Ken Ramirez, Executive Vice President of Animal Care and Training. “The calf started demonstrating early signs of important learning behavior, such as mimicry and after Piquet vocalized, we heard a definitive vocalization from the calf.

We can't get over how cute it is. If you can't get enough, see the previous collection of photos from Tuesday.