Well my weekend was a bit short-lived, but for very good reasons! On Sunday late afternoon the new baby Beluga whale was born! I got to watch the labor and birth from about 1:45pm on. It was really exciting and a pretty once and a lifetime experience. The calf is a little girl and is sooooo adorable (and not that little). She is bigger than me actually probably almost 6ft and 130-40 lbs. (and she could swim better than I can about 1 minute after she was born)

Of course having a new baby around has thrown off the schedule a little bit, but we interns are just doing whatever they tell us too. Starting to learn whale training may be delayed a week or two- but it's worked out fine as they've put us on different duties. We only have to do fish house once or twice a weel from now on, Hallelujah! Instead I've been working more with the sea otters or on 'baby watch'. This means I sit in 'underwater viewing' and 'supervise' volunteers. Not really, but Im supposedly an expert opinion for them to consult. We monitor and time respirations, aggression and nursing and record these for Aquarium research and the vet, Dr. Marty. I am on baby watch for the next two days for 7 hours a day. It should be interesting...I've been told to bring lots of snacks and caffeine as being underground in a dark and quiet viewing area is pretty condusive to sleep after a couple of hours. But hey, a job where you all you do is watch 4 whales play all day isn't much to complain about!

If anyone wants I took a couple of photos birth/newborn, here you go!
I wasn't able to get many good ones and I haven't had time to sort through and edit them yet, but here are a few pictures of the new mom and baby whale: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015999&id=1322040101&l=a24bf4940

I took video as well, hopefully it loads quickly for you if you'd like to watch. One is the birth and the other is one of the baby's first breaths (if you'd like something a little less National Geographic)