Birthdate: August 16th 2002
Born at: Minnesota Zoo
Arrived at Brookfield Zoo: April 14th 2010
Relatives: mother Rio, father Semo, the brother Shadow and the halfbrothers Harley and DJ
Spree
was born on August 16th 2002 at Minnesota Zoo. She is the daughter
of Semo and her mother was Rio. When Spree was three years old her mother gave
birth to another calf named Harley. In January 2006 Harley jumped and landed on
land and even though the trainers got him back in the water direct he was badly
injured and passed away the same day. Just about two months later Rio passed
away too and the same year the female Ayla also passed away. After that
Minnesota Zoo had three dolphins: Spree, Semo and Chinook and when Chinook was
moved Spree and Semo were the only two dolphins at Minnesota Zoo. But on
January 14th 2008 the number of dolphins at Minnesota Zoo was
doubled when Allie and April from Dolphin Connection was moved to the zoo. The
two females were moved to Minnesota Zoo on a breeding loan and was hoped to
become pregnant and also learn Spree how to take care of dolphin calves. In the
beginning it seemed to go very well when Allie became pregnant after just a few
months at Minnesota Zoo but when she in March 2009 gave birth to her calf it
was stillborn. Both in captivity and in the wild it is unfortunately common
that dolphins give birth to stillborn calves but it is unknown why.
Unfortunately Spree did not get along with Allie and April but in August 2009 three new dolphins arrived at Minnesota Zoo from Brookfield Zoo; Tapeko, Allison and Noelani. The three female dolphins were going to live at Minnesota for a few months while Brookfield Zoo's dolphinarium was being re-built and during this time Spree was introduced to the three females. Everything went well and on April 14th 2010 Spree was moved back to Brookfield Zoo with Allison, Tapeko and Noelani. Along with Spree traveled her favorite toy: an aqua disc!
Today Spree lives at Brookfield Zoo with Tapeko, Noelani and Allison plus a male bottlenose dolphin called Chinook, who arrived at Brookfield Zoo in April 2010.