June 7th, 2009, 6 Comments »
As you probably heard, a beluga whale (cue Raffi) was born in the Vancouver Aquarium today:
The calf’s tail poked out at 12:40 p.m., which started a series of contractions until the baby arrived at 3:39 p.m. in a cloud of blood.
“This birth was really textbook. You couldn’t really hope for a better birth,” said Vancouver Aquarium senior vice-president of operations Clint Wright. “[Aurora] looked to be extremely relaxed throughout the whole thing.”
Later, the piece discusses the odds on the baby’s survival:
Aurora’s calf appears to be healthy, but with the mortality rate for beluga calves estimated at 40 to 50 per cent, staff will be watching it closely. Aurora’s only son, Tuvaq, died just before his third birthday in 2005. Her other calf, Qila, gave birth to Aurora’s first granddaughter, Tiqa, last June.
When I read about Qila’s birth on Rebecca’s blog, I wondered about the survival rate for whale births in captivity. I did a little research, and found this list of 33 whale deaths at the Vancouver Aquarium over the past forty-five years. I also found this dodgy site which claimed that “Six out of seven baby whales and dolphins have died at the aquarium, but even the grisly spectacle of a dead baby whale is a huge draw for visitors.”
I contacted the PR department at the Vancouver Aquarium about that second statistic. Despite my repeated efforts to get an answer, they neither confirmed nor denied that figure.
They did provide me with some well-supported evidence that a beluga’s life expectancy in captivity is similar (or better) than that in the wild. I don’t think we should keep large, intelligent mammals in captivity though, so I’m not sure it’s a life worth living.
As an adult, I’ve always been conflicted about the Vancouver Aquarium. On the one hand, I admire their scientific research and educational endeavours. On the other, I find the whales’ continued presence despicable. It’s for this latter reason that, when were planning an event for this fall, we chose not to consider the Aquarium
In any case, I wouldn’t be too optimistic about the long term chances of any whale born in captivity.
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March 9th, 2009, 8 Comments »
Sometimes odd questions occur to me. I write them down, and, by asking people or the Internet, try to learn the answer. This is one such question:
I wrote it on a piece of cardboard, and it subsequently went through the wash.
This question was easy to answer, courtesy of Wikipedia:
At least ten children have been born in West Antarctica. The first was Emilio Marcos Palma, born on January 7, 1978 to Argentine parents at Esperanza, Hope Bay, near the tip of the Antarctic peninsula. In 1984, Juan Pablo Camacho was born at the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Base, becoming the first Chilean born in Antarctica. Soon after, a girl, Gisella, was born at the same station. In 2001, National Geographic reported that eight children had been born at Esperanza alone.
As you might expect, a baby born in Antarctica doesn’t get an Antarctic passport–there’s no such thing. Instead, they receive their parents’ nationality. What happens if their parents come from different nations? I’m not sure.
8 Comments »
July 29th, 2008, 9 Comments »
Lately I’ve being thinking a bit about doulas, and their re-emergence as a profession in our culture. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, here’s the Wikipedia entry:
A doula is a non-medical assistant who provides various forms of non-medical support (physical, emotional and informed choice) in the childbirth process. Based on a particular doulas training and background, the doula may offer support during prenatal care, during childbirth and/or during the postpartum period. A birth doula is a continuous care provider for labor in many settings. Thus a labor doula may attend a home birth or might attend the parturient woman during labor at home and continue while in transport and then complete supporting the birth at a hospital or a birth center.
I hadn’t seen the word ‘parturient’ before, so here’s a definition of that term:
1. About to bring forth young; being in labor.
2. Of or relating to giving birth.
3. About to produce or come forth with something, such as an idea or a discovery.
It’s kind of an awful looking word–it reminds me both of ‘prurient’ and ‘nutrient’.
Profound Moments in Life
We employ a doula at what is, presumably, one of the most profound moments of our lives. It’s interesting, I think, that a similar role hasn’t emerged to guide us through another profound moment of our life–our death. This was a role traditionally filled by a priest or pastor, but in North America we live in significantly post-God nations. Who are the doulas of death?
I have some semi-formed thoughts around the association of doulas with New Ageism. In my experience, New Age movements tend to emerge where a receding Christianity has left gaps.
Beyond the comfort of faith, I’m not sure what role the Christian church served in pregnancy and birth, so that thesis doesn’t seem to hold much water. Mind you, speaking of water, we shouldn’t forget baptisms and christenings. So, I’m left with these incomplete statements:
Christianity: As x are to birth, priests and pastors are to death.
New Ageism: As doulas are to birth, x are to death.
If the terms ‘Christianity’ and ‘New Ageism’ are too charged, we could just replace them with, say, ‘100 Years Ago’ and ‘Today’.
9 Comments »
