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•  The Marine Mammal Team welcomes the birth of first offspring at Dolphin Bay

The first offspring from the Atlantis family of dolphins was born at Dolphin Bay, the new dolphin encounter and education center at Atlantis, The Palm  resort in Dubai.   The calf was born to Butters on the evening of 23 August 2008 at 19:20 in a special maternity pool within the habitat.   Mother and calf have spent the first days nurturing and bonding.
 
The calf is being monitored 24 hours a day by our marine mammal specialists to ensure the calf is healthy and developing on schedule,” said Frank Murru, Chief Marine Officer, Kerzner International. “This is the first birth for our Dolphin Bay family, a true testament to the acclimation of these incredible animals.”
 
In addition to the interactive lagoons, Dolphin Bay will also serve as thefirst marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Dubai. It will be the only centre for stranded animals in the Arabian Gulf. Every year, many injured marine mammals are stranded and need assistance. Now with Kerzner’s marine life expertise and new facility, some of these animals can be rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild. The centre will also provide a broad range of educational opportunities including graduate and undergraduate programming, currently being developed in conjunction with universities and local educational institutions.
 
The dolphins who call Atlantis home have their own dedicated facilities and highly experienced team to ensure their health and well-being.   Dolphin Bay is a 4.5 hectare environment with three interaction lagoons complete with sandy beaches in a tropical setting. The habitat provides the dolphins with seven interconnected resident pools, sheltering from inclement weather and 26 million litres of crystal-clear seawater, which exceeds all marine mammal regulations in the United Arab Emirates.
 
 “We are proud to say our facility is one of the largest man-made coastal dolphin habitats in the world” said Al Kordowski Vice President, Dolphin Bay. “Along with our state of the art medical laboratory and quarantine facility which allows us the proper space to safely care for stranded animals and pregnant or nursing mothers.”
 
The residents of Dolphin Bay are all Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, who breathe air out of a blowhole located on the top of their head. The average gestation period for a Bottlenose Dolphins are 10-12 months. At the end of this period, they give birth to live young, called calves. The calf, born with sparse hair on its snout, is a mammal and will nurse from its mother for 12-18 months. The calf will begin to eat fish at 4-5 months of age. At birth, the average Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin is 70 cm long and weighs about 15 kg.

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