It was a celebratory day at a resort park in Orlando yesterday when an Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin was born in the morning. It was born at Discovery Cove, a place where people can swim with dolphins, snorkel with fish, hand-feed exotic birds and spend time on the beach.
The little animal weighed 35 pounds and measured three inches and a half in length when it was born.
The calf is growing, nursing and bonding with its mother. Both “ladies” are doing well.
It was a memorable birth, as it marked the first time a dolphin at Discovery Cove has successfully given birth to a calf conceived through the use of sperm-sexing research.
The pre-selection technology process separates sperm that carries a female-producing X chromosome from sperm that carries a male-producing Y chromosome.
This is the 15th dolphin calf in the entire world that has been born using sex pre-selection technology.
According to reports, scientists at the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Reproductive Research Center in San Diego, California, were the first ones to successfully produce female or male offspring through sperm-sexing and artificial insemination.