THE PROVINCE, Latest News
Matthew Ramsey, The Province
CREDIT: Jon Murray, The Province
Monday, July 25, 2005

Lonely Spinnaker welcomes new dolphin Staff hope two will eventually mate

Laverne, a Pacific white-sided dolphin from SeaWorld in Texas, has successfully mated before.

After 90 minutes of coy glances and flirtatious circling, a feisty Japanese teenager made the first move on an older Texan female at the Vancouver Aquarium yesterday.

Spinnaker, the aquarium's 18-year-old resident white-sided dolphin, swam into a small holding pool to meet Laverne, 27, his new white-sided friend from SeaWorld San Antonio.

Laverne arrived at the aquarium Saturday morning and was kept initially in a small pool away from Spinnaker, who circled in the waters of the main habitat. Trainers opened the gate separating the two pools yesterday morning, ending the three-year job of finding a pal for Spinnaker after the death of dolphin Whitewings in 2002.

It took an hour and a half for Spinnaker (103 kilograms, 1.9 metres) to work up the nerve to swim into the smaller pool and meet Laverne (125 kg, 2.1 m).

The moment was met by cheers from aquarium visitors and staff.

Laverne and Spinnaker celebrated with herring.

It's been an "emotional rollercoaster" at the aquarium in recent days with the death of a juvenile beluga, saying goodbye to another beluga and welcoming Laverne, said vice-president of operations Clint Wright.

Wright said he hopes the two dolphins will eventually mate. Laverne is the mother of a five-year-old male called Munchkin, while Spinnaker is known to get randy but has never produced an offspring.

"The first thing is companionship," Wright said. "It's really up to the two of them. He's been frisky for the past two weeks. It's almost like he knew she was coming."

Female white-sided dolphins are typically dominant over males so it was somewhat of a surprise for Spinnaker to take the initiative yesterday. Four years ago, when he arrived from a facility in Japan, Spinnaker spent a full five days in the smaller pool before entering the larger one and meeting White-wings.

Once Laverne has settled in, she will join Spinnaker in regular performances.

n In the meantime, beluga whale Allua has arrived safely in California.

The 23-year-old female whale was hoisted by crane out of the water late Saturday night. The beluga was then placed in a freshwater transport box and driven to the airport where she was loaded into a charter DC-8 for the flight to SeaWorld, San Diego. She arrived at SeaWorld yesterday morning with an entourage of three Vancouver trainers.

Wright says Allua's new home is slightly bigger than what she grew accustomed to after 20 years in Vancouver. Allua will be allowed to settle in for the next few days and get used to her one male and two female beluga companions.

Trainers are hoping Allua, who became known as "Auntie Allua" in Vancouver after she started nursing calf Tuvaq, will breed with the SeaWorld male and raise a calf of her own.

Tuvaq, who was born at Vancouver Aquarium in July 2002, died at the age of three earlier this month. It's not known yet what killed the calf.

Allua's blood was checked at least three times before her trip to San Diego to ensure she had no infections.

mramsey@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005