We LOVE taking Z to the Vancouver Aquarium. Honestly, the membership there ($125/yr for a family) is one of the best values any parent of a toddler can find in the city. There are plenty of things for the kids to run around and see, and even as Z was just a few months old he loved to stare at the sharks, turtles and salmon. Oh - and the belugas too.

Just last weekend, when we ran through Stanley Park’s leaves, we had a quick peek at the new baby Beluga swimming with her mom and Dad. Actually, anyone can have a peek on the Vancouver Aquarium’s BelugaCam.

Vancouver’s newest beluga was born on June 10. It was touch and go for a while, as the mortality rate for beluga calves is as high as 50% (both in captivity and the wild). So the team at the Vancouver Aquarium held off on naming the new addition until she was out of the danger zone.

She made it and more than 5500 entries were received in the Vancouver Aquarium’s contest to name the baby beluga!

A Vancouver Aquarium committee made up of the marine mammal care team and other departments reviewed all entries and made a shortlist, based on finding a name to match the personality and characteristics of our baby beluga, as she’s developed since her birth on June 10.

Here are the shortlisted names:

Sura – means new life
Shiya- means snow falling at dawn
Mira - short for miracle and is also a star
Kuvia- means joy
Tiqa- made up name using the first letter of Tuesday, the day she was born, plus the first letter from each of the other belugas in her family - Imaq, Qila and Aurora.

Personally, I voted for Raffi… you know, cause of the song and all, but it didnt make the short list. For the next few days, Vancouver Aquarium members will be voting on the new name.

The voting deadline is October 21, so I’m guessing an announcement on the new name (I’m actually voting for Tiqa) will be announced soon after that!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 3:44 pm and is filed under charity, community, family, news, vancouver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.