Baby... Baby Beluga!

Aurora, the 20-year-old beluga grandmother and now mother of three... gave birth to a calf on Sunday June 7th at the Vancouver Aquarium!.....A spry baby beluga slipped out of her mother in to the cold water of a pool sparkled by afternoon sunshine in Vancouver amid loud cheers and awed ohs and ahs.....Ahhh Man's fascination with whales!

They're so much like us and yet so different! The baby is the second whale born at the aquarium in the past year. Pregnant for the past 15 months, a 21-year-old beluga named Aurora gave birth to the girl at around 3:30 PDT. Labour lasted a day and the baby's tail and body emerged in about three hours on Sunday!

Its interesting how the tail gets out first so he can swim. Born tail first, the female calf - about 1.5 metres long and about 70 kilograms - swam to the surface without trouble to take its first breath. The early minutes and days and months of belugas is hugely uncertain, with a mortality rate in the wild generally estimated by scientists at as much as 50 per cent in the wild.

Nursing lasts about two years and belugas often live in to their 40s. Males grow to five metres in length and around 1,400 kilograms, and females can be four metres and 900 kilos.

Belugas are particularly popular among aquarium visitors because of the whales' good nature and lively spirits: In the wild, belugas can gather in the thousands,they love socializing - and their underwater sonic symphony with their distinctive high-pitched and excited twitter is something to behold!

The new baby brings the beluga population at the Vancouver Aquarium to six - and two more males on are on breeding loan to Sea World.

A plan to name the new baby hasn't yet been announced.