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© WCS/Julie Larsen Maher
Dr. Paul Calle has seen a lot of patients in his 18 years with the Wildlife Conservation Society. As Senior Veterinarian, his home base is the Wildlife Health Center at the Bronx Zoo, but Paul makes frequent “outpatient visits,” too. His regular rounds include checking up on the animals at the New York Aquarium and the other WCS zoos in New York. When he speaks of the walruses he has befriended over the years, he glows.
“All of our walruses have unique personalities, and you can tell who they are by how they act. Kulu is wonderfully trained and very cooperative. She’s always been assertive and outgoing. Ayveq is very much the dominant male—protective of the group and a great harem leader.”
Paul was also part of the rescue squad that retrieved the orphaned calves from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska in 1994. He took pride in watching Kulu and Ayveq mature into hefty and healthy adults, and now he’s eager to observe how the new mom raises her own calf. He’s also prone to gushing over the chubby little fellow. “Professionally speaking, he’s one of the cutest babies I’ve ever seen.”
“One of the really fascinating things that we’ll learn from this baby is how a mother-reared baby walrus grows compared to a hand-raised baby. Walrus births in zoos and aquariums are very rare, so this is a really unique opportunity. This baby is very cooperative, allowing us to get regular weights, and Kulu’s being a spectacular mother.” |
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