Two of Quebec City’s newest residents are getting a lot of attention from around the world.
The two baby walruses at the city’s aquarium were born days apart to mothers Arnaliaq and Samka. While Samka remains in the walrus maternity ward, Arnaliaq has been busily teaching her little one to swim.
“We’re really counting on Arnie to keep those maternal instints and teach that baby to swim,” said aquarium conservation director Jill Marvin. “That baby’s gotta learn to dive and that baby’s gotta learn to get out of here and then it’s going to be the socialization when we let Samka out. We’re going to have to get those two together.”
Neither newborn has been named yet, but the aquarium is asking the public for suggestions on its Facebook page.
While staff and visitors have come to say hello, the news of the births has gone worldwide.
“We got news from Australia, from Germany, from everywhere,” said SEPAQ CEO John Mackay. “All the scientists, veterinarians and wildlife scientists are very interested by that.”
Walrus births at institutions like the aquarium are rare, with Arnaliaq and Samka’s births being just the seventh and eighth in North America in the last 85 years.
The new fame doesn’t seem to have gone to the head of Boris, the male who impregnated both female walruses. The male has been returned to his separate enclosure where he has been seen lazing about.
