“Shedd Aquarium Asks Public to Vote on Baby Beluga’s Name,” by S.M. O’Connor

The John G. Shedd Aquarium is letting the public vote on the name of the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) calf born on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Voting ends on the evening of Thursday, November 21, 2019 and the winning name will be announced on Friday, November 22, 2019. The calf and his mother, Mauyuk (pronounced My-yack), remain under the eye of trainers and medical staff. He is growing steadily.

Possible Names

Annik (pronounced AH-nik) means “blizzard.” The Shedd Aquarium staff noted that Mauyak “means ‘soft snow’ in the Inuit language. This little calf arrived strong and active—a little blizzard around his graceful and patient mother.

Imavik (pronounced Ee-mah-vik) means “ocean.” The Shedd Aquarium staff stated, “This name helps remind us how important it is to protect and nurture our ocean environment to ensure we continue to provide a safe and healthy ecosystem for beluga whales.”

Ikulk (pronounced Ee-koo-lak) means “confident.” The Shedd Aquarium staff stated, “The calf is strong and confident, peeling away whenever possible to explore his habitat or investigate something new under the watchful gaze of his mom.”

Naniitchuk (pronounced nah-nee-Eet-chuck) means ‘brave.” The Shedd Aquarium staff stated, “This little calf is brave and persistent. He is fearless when participating in new experiences, meeting new animals and playing with new toys.”

Kulu (pronounced KOO-loo) is a term of endearment for babies and wee tots. Participants on the Shedd Adventures trip to see beluga whales in the wild in Canadian waters chose this name.

Click here to vote. The calf was about five feet long and weighed approximately 150 pounds at the time of his birth. In three months, he doubled his weight and grew a foot longer so he is now six feet long and weighs 300 pounds.

Mauyuk was thirty-eight years old when she gave birth to this calf. The last time she gave birth was on August 27, 2012, which had been the most recent birth at the Shedd Aquarium until now.

That calf was Kimalu. At ten feet and two inches long, she would be the smallest beluga whale at the Shedd Aquarium if not for her younger sibling.

“This is a humbling and fulfilling moment for our animal care teams, who have been preparing Mauyak for her big delivery for more than a year,” Peggy Sloan, Chief Animal Operations Officer at the Shedd Aquarium, stated in a press release on July 4, 2019, the day after the calf’s birth. “Every pregnancy and birth brings significant information for both populations in accredited aquariums and their endangered counterparts in the wild.”

“After the successful delivery, we are supporting Mauyak and watching her for what she’s proven she does best – caring for her new calf,” stated Steve Aibel, Senior Director of Maine Mammals at the Shedd Aquarium. “Mauyak now begins the process of bonding and nursing with her new calf. During this time, we will be watching closely 24-7 and gathering data on important beluga calf developmental milestones to share with the scientific community at large.”

The Shedd Aquarium stated, “Reproduction and births are rarely observed in the wild, and data that Shedd Aquarium collects from watching Mauyak and her calf’s development help inform researchers and wildlife management organizations dedicated to safeguarding wild beluga populations. For example, understanding critical neonatal development and birthing milestones can help Shedd’s partners in Canada know if pollution, shipping or human activity could be detrimental to the reproduction and recovery of the critically endangered beluga population in the St. Lawrence Seaway.”

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Figure 1 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: This is Mauyak and her male calf born on July 3, 2019. He is her fourth calf born at the Shedd Aquarium.

Figure 2 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: The Shedd Aquarium released these pictures of Mauyak and her male calf on July 4, 2019, the day after he was born.

Figure 3 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: The calf was about five feet long and weighed approximately 150 pounds at the time of his birth.

Figure 4 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: In the three months since he was born and Brenna Hernandez took these pictures, the calf doubled his weight and grew a foot longer so he is now six feet long and weighs 300 pounds.

Figure 5 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: One of the names the public can vote on is Annik (pronounced AH-nik), which means “blizzard.” The others are Imavik (pronounced Ee-mah-vik), which means “ocean;” Ikulk (pronounced Ee-koo-lak), which means “confident;” Naniitchuk (pronounced nah-nee-Eet-chuck), which means ‘brave;” and Kulu (pronounced KOO-loo) is a term of endearment for babies and tots.

Figure 6 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: The calf sometimes hitches a ride on his mother, Mauyak, or his elder sister, Kimalu.

Figure 7 Credit: Brenna Hernandez, ©Shedd Aquarium Caption: By hitching a ride on his mother or his big sister, the calf can save energy.

Credit: Sam Cejtin, ©Shedd Aquarium Credit: Here, we see Mauyak with her male calf born on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

There is a twelve-page article on what animals there eat in the November, 2019 issue of CHICAGO MAGAZINE. The last Illinois Free Day at the Shedd Aquarium is Wednesday, December 4, 2019. The Ford Motor Company Fund sponsors Illinois Free Days at the Shedd Aquarium. There is a $3-per-transaction fee to reserve these free tickets in advance online. Admission to a 4-D Experience is a $4.95 upgrade for each guest.

The Shedd Aquarium is a Smithsonian Affiliate. It is located on the Museum Campus in the Chicago Park District’s Burnham Park. Normally, the Shedd Aquarium is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the workweek (Mondays through Fridays) and from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays). Click here for updates on hours. The last ticket sale is forty-five minutes before closing.

The address is 1200 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. The Website is https://www.sheddaquarium.org. The phone number is (312) 939-2438.

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The Field Museum of Natural History in March, 2018

The Field Museum of Natural History’s entrance pavilions are at opposite ends of Stanley Field Hall, which has a north-south axis. The two porticos (porches) are each reached by two successive flights of stairs.

Both porticos of The Field Museum of Natural History are flanked by two small porches, which each have two caryatids (columns in the shape of maidens). On the facade, the wings are adorned with a colonnade of attached fluted Ionic columns. The building’s fluted Ionic columns have volutes (spiral-scroll-shaped crowns).

Each portico of The Field Museum is tetrastyle in antis with double-ranked fluted Ionic columns capped by volutes. An entablature crowned by a pediment rests atop the columns. The continuous frieze in each case is relatively plain. The wave-themed acroteria that crown the pediments are borrowed from the Palace of a Fine Arts, which housed The Field Museum until 1920 and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Field Museum of Natural History isn’t “just” a museum. Visitors can watch scientists at work through windows at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center’s Pritzker Laboratory.

Mrs. Charles (Laura) Schweppe, a daughter and co-heiress of John Graves Shedd, the former partner of Marshall Field I who succeeded him as president of Marshall Field & Company, and who, under the guidance of Stanley Field founded the Shedd Aquarium, donated an exhibit of 100 bronze sculptures by Malvina Hoffman to The Field Museum. They represent every race, nation, and tribe in the human family (more or less). On January 9, 1933, the first group, Unity of Man, went on display.

In addition to the four figures Henry Hering (1874-1949) made for the corners of Stanley Field Hall, he also made the twelve plaster round lion head shield escutcheons that line it. These are replicas of the marble round lion head shield escutcheon he made for the pediment of the facade of The Field Museum of Natural History.

Christmas at Chicago’s Union Station

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a POLAR EXPRESS display in the Great Hall of Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the headlamp of THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Union Station Company rail car loaded with super-size gifts is part of THE POLAR EXPRESS mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Chicago has emblems of Amtrak, Metra, and historic railroad companies whose routes they now operate like Burlington.

Cinemas sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) Helped Design

This is the Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace and office building erected in downtown Park Ridge, Illinois in 1928.

The architects were Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey. Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on the Adler Planetarium, contributed to this building.

In recent years, the Vlahakis family, who’ve owned the building for 50 years, have been able to turn the building into a multiplex by adding smaller theaters around the original auditorium. The latest one, with a screen four times the size of the one in the auditorium, will open in time to screen INFINITY WARS in May, if all goes well.

The Catlow Movie Theater is a cinema that opened in downtown Barrington, Illinois in 1927. The Tudor Revival style of architecture is not confined to the facade of the cinema. As with the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois, sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) played a role in the design and decoration of The Catlow Movie Theater.