Current:Home > FinanceBlind seal gives birth and nurtures the pup at an Illinois zoo-LoTradeCoin
Blind seal gives birth and nurtures the pup at an Illinois zoo
View Date:2024-12-23 19:49:45
BROOKFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A grey seal found stranded and blind more than a decade ago on an island in Maine has given birth at a Chicago-area zoo and is now “a very attentive mother” to her newborn, zoo officials said Friday.
The 11-year-old seal named “Georgie” gave birth on Feb. 17 to a nearly 35-pound (15.9-kilogram) male pup at the Brookfield Zoo. He’s gained 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) in his first week on his mother’s extremely rich milk, and has been practicing his swimming skills in a pool, zoo officials said.
After Georgie was found stranded on an island in Georgetown, Maine, near the Atlantic Ocean in 2013, it was determined she was blind in her left eye and functionally blind in her right eye.
Due to her impaired vision, authorities with the National Marine Fisheries Service decided she could not be released back into the wild. She arrived in 2020 at the Brookfield Zoo, west of downtown Chicago.
But Georgie’s vision loss hasn’t affected her ability to care for her newborn — she’s nurturing the pup and has proven to be “a very attentive mother,” said Mark Gonka, the zoo’s associate director of marine mammal care and conservation.
“Grey seals have a keen sense of smell as well as a repertoire of vocalizations. Georgie is able to locate her pup by his distinct smell and call,” Gonka said in a statement.
Like Georgie, the pup’s father, a 23-year-old grey seal named Kiinaq, was also stranded in the wild and deemed unreleasable when he was only a few months old.
The Brookfield Zoo said the newborn pup’s birth from two parents of wild descent is helping to increase the genetic diversity of the grey seal population in accredited North American zoos and aquariums.
Grey seals face threats that include entanglement in fishing gear, illegal hunting, chemical contaminants and climate change, the zoo said.
veryGood! (3599)
Related
- Veterans face challenges starting small businesses but there are plenty of resources to help
- The Missouri House tightens its dress code for women, to the dismay of Democrats
- 'Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania' shrinks from its duties
- At 3 she snuck in to play piano, at nearly 80, she's a Colombian classical legend
- Voters in California city reject measure allowing noncitizens to vote in local races
- A collection of rare centuries-old jewelry returns to Cambodia
- Viola Davis achieves EGOT status with Grammy win
- Leo DiCaprio's dating history is part of our obsession with staying young forever
- Jessica Simpson’s Sister Ashlee Simpson Addresses Eric Johnson Breakup Speculation
- N.Y. Philharmonic chief looks to Gustavo 'Dudamel era' after historic appointment
Ranking
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Something Corporate
- Get these Sundance 2023 movies on your radar now
- Richard Belzer, stand-up comic and TV detective, dies at 78
- Joni Mitchell wins Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from Library of Congress
- The Best Gifts for Men – That He Won’t Want to Return
- Salman Rushdie's 'Victory City' is a triumph, independent of the Chautauqua attack
- 'Black on Black' celebrates Black culture while exploring history and racial tension
- An Oscar-winning costume designer explains how clothes 'create a mood'
Recommendation
-
Wicked Director Jon M. Chu Reveals Name of Baby Daughter After Missing Film's LA Premiere for Her Birth
-
Tate Modern's terrace is a nuisance for wealthy neighbors, top U.K. court rules
-
Opinion: Remembering poet Charles Simic
-
Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams, is dead at 64
-
Eva Longoria Shares She and Her Family Have Moved Out of the United States
-
Ross Gay on inciting joy while dining with sorrow
-
Nick Kroll on rejected characters and getting Mel Brooks to laugh
-
A showbiz striver gets one more moment in the spotlight in 'Up With the Sun'