When Shedd Aquarium’s first beluga whales came to Chicago
<p>The two beluga whales lay in the belly of the cargo plane, everyone on board eager for the final leg of a journey that had begun a year and a half earlier in a pristine river splashing into Canada’s Hudson Bay.</p><p>No. 3, as the two female belugas were then known, were to be the star attractions at Shedd Aquarium’s new $43 million Abbott Oceanarium.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
<p>The two beluga whales lay in the belly of the cargo plane, everyone on board eager for the final leg of a journey that had begun a year and a half earlier in a pristine river splashing into Canada’s Hudson Bay.</p><p>No. 3, as the two female belugas were then known, were to be the star attractions at Shedd Aquarium’s new $43 million Abbott Oceanarium. As crews got the world’s then-largest indoor marine mammal pavilion ready, the whales sojourned at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.</p><p>As the jet prepared to taxi down a snowy runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in early March 1991, an unattended truck, accidentally left in drive, slammed into the underside of one of the wings, damaging the plane and leaving humans and cetaceans alike stranded until repairs could be completed 14 hours later.</p><p>When the plane finally took off a day late, the pilot climbed too steeply, jolting the tanks holding the belugas.</p><p>“It was quite a wave,” said David Casper, then a Shedd veterinarian, who was among those who spent the four-hour flight shivering in wet clothes. "Imagine a very long bathtub filled with water and a beluga whale."</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-340000" name="image-340000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/de0a05c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a63d022/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/532b227/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Belugas Osiris (left) and Acadia, who arrived in July from Canada, swim around a tank at the Shedd Aquarium." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/532b227/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8ede7da/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275" data-src="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/532b227/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3997x2243+0+211/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fac%2Faa%2F5abe15c64a409c7cb66e2106e78f%2Fbelugasshed-260724-1.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" > </picture> <div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Belugas Osiris (left) and Acadia, who arrived in July from Canada, swim around a tank at the Shedd Aquarium.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-7b0000" name="image-7b0000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c42fa81/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1149+0+108/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F80%2Fa8%2Fa8f82957407c8dd79970315c21a9%2F2286578329.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6ddc347/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1149+0+108/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F80%2Fa8%2Fa8f82957407c8dd79970315c21a9%2F2286578329.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/36fb98a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1149+0+108/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F80%2Fa8%2Fa8f82957407c8dd79970315c21a9%2F2286578329.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="A beluga whale arrives at the Shedd Aquarium on July 21, 2026.
Read the full report at Chicago Sun-Times ↗
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- <p>The two beluga whales lay in the belly of the cargo plane, everyone on board eager for the final leg of a journey that had begun a year and a half earlier in a pristine river splashing into Canada’s Hudson Bay.</p><p>No. 3, as the two female belugas were then known, were to be the star attractions at Shedd Aquarium’s new $43 million Abbott Oceanarium.
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- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
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- 14m ago.
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When Shedd Aquarium’s first beluga whales came to Chicago
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times