After being the first dolphin to be born alive in the country, Vi’s baby died yesterday in her nursing pen at the Ocean Adventure Marine Park inside this premier Freeport.
According to a statement released by the marine park, an initial medical examination revealed one of the dolphin’s lungs was significantly smaller than the other.
There was also an indication of significant infection associated with that undersized lung which spread to the other lung and its liver, the statement added.
Ocean Adventure said the calf’s organs were sufficiently developed to support life but not to support the demand of the baby’s growth and development.
Currently, the park’s resident veterinarians are still examining the precise cause of death as they wait for the histopathology results.
The marine park pointed out that only 30% of the calves of first-time mother dolphins like Vi survive. The survival rate of dolphin calves overall is about 50%. In the wild an experienced mom will have two surviving calves every decade, it added.
This was the reason why the marine park’s experts had been monitoring Vi round-the-clock and its calf since its birth last May 27. (Jonas Reyes, Manila Bulletin)
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