A female killer whale calf born at SeaWorld San Antonio Oct. 9 recently celebrated her one-month birthday. The calf, which was rejected by its mother soon after birth, now weighs 366 pounds, is over 7 feet long and has started teething!

Fifty SeaWorld San Antonio animal care specialists and trainers have been giving the calf twenty-four hour care, including bottle feedings every two hours of 900 milliliters of commercial formula, supplemented by milk from her mother on a daily basis. The calf also is weighed daily to assist in preparing formula and weekly blood samples are being taken to determine the calf's health and follow the development of her immune system.

"In the past 30 days, we have learned an incredible amount about hand-rearing a killer whale," said Dudley Wigdahl, vice president of zoological operations at the marine life adventure park. "Respirations, nursing and other vital indicators look good, and we'l continue to keep a close watch on the calf," he said.

This is the first time any SeaWorld park has intervened to rear a killer whale calf at birth. The SeaWorld parks have extensive experience hand-rearing dolphins, manatees, sea lions and walruses, particularly animals adopted by the parks after being orphaned in the wild.

SeaWorld San Antonio' Entertainment Department connected an audio system from Shamu Stadium to the zoological support area, where the calf currently resides, that allows the calf to hear the sounds of other killer whales. The calf also has a companion female bottlenose dolphin swimming with her in her pool.

This was the first birth for 17-year-old mother whale, Kayla, who measures 18 feet long and weighs approximately 6,000 pounds. This birth increases SeaWorld San Antonio's killer whale population to eight.

The calf has not been formally named, but she is being referred to as "K-calf" by her caregivers. The "K" stands for Kayla, her mother.