Sea World Aquarium has Welcomed a New Baby Offshore Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin

By Renee Soutar

Gold Coast, Australia - Sea World has welcomed a new baby to its family with the birth of an Offshore Pacific Bottlenose dolphin, and the new little calf is doing her bit to assist the flood effected marine life of Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.

Sea World will today launch a ‘Name the Baby Dolphin’ E-Bay auction with all proceeds going towards a research trip into Moreton Bay to check on the health of its 1000 Dugongs.

The highest bidder will not only earn the right to name the new calf, they will also enjoy a three night stay at Sea World Resort & Water Park, four VIP Passes with unlimited entry into Sea World, Movie World and Wet’n’Wild, four tickets to Australian Outback Spectacular and a back stage tour of Dolphin Cove where they will get to meet the little calf.

Sea World Director of Marine Sciences Trevor Long said that the floods have and will continue to have a huge and damaging effect on Moreton Bay, especially the Dugong population.

“There is a huge concern that silt from the floods have covered the Bay’s sea grass beds, depriving the Dugongs of their only food source”.

“Sea World, in partnership with the University of Queensland is planning to conduct their third annual Dugong research trip into the Bay in the coming months”.

“This research trip will be of great importance in assessing the short and long term affect of the floods on the Dugong population and completing an overall health check of the Dugongs to assess the short and long term effect of the floods”.

“It would be wonderful to see Australians supporting the recovery of Moreton Bay through the Sea World Name the Baby Dolphin Auction”, he said.

ABOUT THE CALF:

Date of birth: 8 January 2011

Gender: Female

Parents: Squeak (Mum) and Sirius (Dad)

Weight: 20kg

Length: One metre

ABOUT THE AUCTION:

Link: Visit EBay.com.au and search for ‘Sea World Baby Dolphin’

Closing date: 6am AEDST Monday 21 February 2011

Prize: Naming rights to the new baby Dolphin, 3 nights accommodation at Sea World Resort in a Resort room, 4 VIP Passes, 4 tickets to Australian Outback Spectacular and a VIP backstage tour of Dolphin Cove. Terms and conditions apply.

Sea World visitors can see the new mum and calf in the park’s Dolphin Cove Nursery pool after the morning Imagine Dolphin Show. The best way to see Sea World’s newest dolphin is with a VIP Pass which offers unlimited entry to Sea World, Movie World and Wet’n’Wild until June 30 2011.

To view Sea World's web page on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor, go to: http://www.zandavisitor.com/forumtopicdetail-2469-Sea_World