A Common Bottlenose Dolphin born in the Oceanogràfic

The family of dolphins at the City of Arts and Sciences’ Oceanogràfic (aquarium) has a new member that was born a short time ago in the Dolphinarium. The baby weighed 10 kilos at birth and is now in the nursery and mating pool with its mother.

The dolphin will be fed on its mother’s milk for at least a year, though after sixth months the weaning period will be combine the milk with this species’ usual diet based on blue fish such as herring or sprats, a diet that enables them to grow quickly.

After a year and a half, the offspring is seen to be somewhat independent from its mother and begins to develop the behavioural traits that enable it to share the display pool with others of its kind.

With these latest births, there are now eight dolphins that have been born in the Oceanogràfic, which shows the success of its reproduction and rearing programmes. Hence, the Dolphinarium now has 22 dolphins, making it one of the biggest groups in Europe.

In total, there are now over 500 specimens of different species that have been born in the Oceanogràfic’s facilities. This is in addition to dolphins, seals, sea lions and penguins, as well as smoothhounds, sea eagles, swans, shelducks, ibis and spoonbills, among others.