Frankie_number_1_fan
Well-Known Member
Yes, I think they've had 36 births and only six surviving.
Indianapolis Zoo Indianapolis Zoo news 2025
- Thread starter Haliaeetus
- Start date
According to one source (dated 2015), from the birth of the first calf in 1993 to 2015, there were 32 pregnancies:
4 ended in miscarriage
1 ended in stillbirth
27 were live births
Of the 27 live births, all but five died as neonates. The first surviving calf was Kalei, born August 2000.
Since then, there’s only been one more surviving calf (Maui, born 2019):
0.1 Kalei (2000)
0.1 Indy (2001)
1.0 Jett (2002)
1.0 Orin (2012)
0.1 Calypso (2015)
1.0 Maui (2019)
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Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
Didn’t know dolphin calves had that high of a mortality rate, geez, guess this calf’s death wasn’t really a shock.
Didn’t know dolphin calves had that high of a mortality rate, geez, guess this calf’s death wasn’t really a shock.
Indianapolis Zoo have suffered a high mortality rate for bottlenose dolphin calves, even compared to other captive facilities.
This article (which is also my source for the above statistics) said initial investigations attributed the mortality rate to a lack of maternal care, with the females captured at an age before they’d had sufficient chance to learn maternal care from their pod.
Attention was then turned to genetics/inbreeding:
Indianapolis Zoo: Of Drive Purchases and Botched Breeding Programs | Dolphin Project
Frankie_number_1_fan
Well-Known Member
Not necessarily saying your source is wrong, but Cetabase claims 36 pregnancies/births and they seem very reliable, so I'm inclined to say this number is the correct "headcount" so to speak.
Living:
Indy F (2001)
Jett M (2002)
Orin M (2012)
Calypso F (2015)
Maui M (2019)
Deceased:
Nova's Calf M (1993)
Ripley's Calf F (1994)
Phoenix's Calf M (1995)
Ripley's Calf F (1995)
Nova's Calf M (1995)
China's Calf M (1996)
Phoenix's Calf F (1996)
Shiloh's Calf M M (1996)
Nova's Calf M (1997)
Phoenix's Calf F (1997)
Ripley's Calf M (1998)
China's Calf F (1998)
Phoenix's Calf F (2000)
Ripley's Calf F (2000)
Kalei F (2000)
Phoenix's Calf M (2001)
Nova's Calf F (2004)
Ripley's Calf F (2005)
Nova's Calf F (2007)
Nova's Calf M (2009)
Nova's Calf F (2009)
Ripley's Calf F ( 2009)
Kalei's Calf F (2010)
Ripley's Calf (2010)
China's Calf F (2010)
Nova's Calf M (2011)
Kalei's Calf M (2012)
Indy's Calf M (2012)
Nova's Calf M (2012)
Unk Parent's Calf M (2015)
Calypso's Calf M (2025)
These are flooring numbers either way though.
I’d trust Cetabase as the more reliable source. Two of these (Maui and Calypso’s 2025 calf) hadn’t been born in 2015, but they’d still be off by two calves in that case (34 pregnancies). Perhaps there was variance in what was recorded as a miscarriage.
Either way, that’s staggering that 14 calves died before the first surviving calf was finally born in 2000.
That's very tragic. I would ask if bringing in dolphins with maternal experience do any good, but surely if it were that simple, it would have been attempted?
If there were other factors (i.e. genetic issues from inbreeding), then calves may have been pre-disposed to suffer a high mortality rate irregardless; but objectively speaking, dolphins with maternal skills would help.
Females provide assistance to mothers during the birth/delivery of the calf and having experienced females play this role is even more valuable.
It was mentioned in the article linked above that consideration was given to helping the dolphins learn maternal skills through observation; which they undoubtedly would have been deprived of coming into captivity at 3-4 years versus cows that had had the opportunity to observe the raising of siblings etc.
Bactrian Deer
Well-Known Member
Honestly I am not surprised of the death, although it is saddening. I currently volunteer for the dolphins and I’ve known this information for many months.
They never intended for her to get pregnant, and I wasn’t even told of the father.
From what coworkers have told me, it is a combination of genetics, but it is also highlighted of many of these dolphins inexperience. And sometimes calypso is a wee bit… stupid.
I wish I could say more about it, about the calf… and about the future of the zoo as a whole, but alas the zoo is really quiet. They didn’t even want information of this calf to really get out because they feared public backlash when they announce its death (especially with cetaceans and this zoo)
They never intended for her to get pregnant, and I wasn’t even told of the father.
From what coworkers have told me, it is a combination of genetics, but it is also highlighted of many of these dolphins inexperience. And sometimes calypso is a wee bit… stupid.
I wish I could say more about it, about the calf… and about the future of the zoo as a whole, but alas the zoo is really quiet. They didn’t even want information of this calf to really get out because they feared public backlash when they announce its death (especially with cetaceans and this zoo)
You would have to compare these to calf survival to wild dolphins and survival rates. I rather - assume - that primiparous females have as much chance not to survive than a more experienced female.
Please also note the interval between her birth in 2015 and the non-breeding situation - artificially managed or not - for the greater part of the decade since last successful births took place at Indianapolis dolphinarium ...(before jumping to conclusions for which we lack any evidence).
Frankie_number_1_fan
Well-Known Member
I must admit as well that I don't find this terribly surprising. Indy has a sizable group in a building in need of a lot of help design and structure-wise due to age. Combine that with inexperienced females and a generally large infant death-rate in the species as a whole, they're not exactly set up for sucess.
It isn't the care team's fault of course, they're working with what upper management is willing to give them. Sometimes birth control fails, and sometimes newborns die.
It isn't the care team's fault of course, they're working with what upper management is willing to give them. Sometimes birth control fails, and sometimes newborns die.
What do you mean by "the future of the zoo as a whole", exactly?
Mara the Chimpanzee is currently on the loose...
https://fox59.com/indiana-news/esca...hBRn-lsXENG10sEPMA_aem_tjn2800SVyG8QYaCJ4fpAw
https://fox59.com/indiana-news/esca...hBRn-lsXENG10sEPMA_aem_tjn2800SVyG8QYaCJ4fpAw
Joseph G
Well-Known Member
Per the zoo’s social media channels, she’s been sedated and returned safely to her exhibit.
Someone in one of the comments sections said that she had done this before at her previous zoo.
More rough news for this zoo as of recent, although thankfully it ended without major injury. While I don’t have all the information, Indianapolis has definitely had some animal care issues as of recent especially with apes, including the chimp biting the directors finger off, theft of the tortoises which was kept from state police for more than a week, among other issues.
Most of us locals suspect that the tortoise theft was an inside job.
Chimpanzee are particularly difficult and unpredictable for sure, and the dolphin situation was unfortunate. The tortoise deal is the really confounding one...
I don’t blame them for everything but it’s a lot of things that make you scratch your head. This reddit thread helped open my eyes to some of the problems that exist there and the thread resulted in the chimpanzee biting the director news breaking to the public.
Additionally the zoos approach in recent years to new species and exhibits has been strange to say the least, with the unique but troubled chimp exhibit, and a whole host of exhibits for random popular species that don’t always last (like the sloths).
https://www.reddit.com/r/indianapol...dianapolis_zoo_inappropriate_animal_handling/
Some of the animal-related claims here seem out of date. I visited fourteen months ago, before the thread was made -- the oft criticized sloth exhibit was ancient history by then, the capybara was in an outdoor exhibit that rotates with arctic fox in the winter, and the aardvark left shortly after my visit for Kansas City, where the animal now has an enclosure with digging space. Some of these problems have been addressed without public pressure. Many of the comments about poor animal welfare are about ambassador species, a common if divisive practice, but framed as neglect/abuse claims. There is a claim the penguin exhibit is "caving in" which seems very troubling but also, ah, I don't know how you cover something like that up??
I've not worked for the Indianapolis Zoo, so obviously I cannot come to a definitive conclusion all of these allegations are true or false, but the animal stuff feels pretty behind. The stuff that's in this thread that is far more troubling and harder to verify is a wide variety of claims about Dr. Shumaker -- an alleged tendency to "cover up" all sorts of animal-related accidents and abuses by favored employees, while also firing anyone "competent". Those things are all very serious if true and completely unacceptable. That said, it is not terribly serious if he favors the primate department and that sounded at times like sour grapes over the chimpanzee exhibit and internal politics. There's also some petty remarks about someone named "Stacy", possibly one of the zoo's curators who I'd rather not directly name here.