Female dolphin calf named Lana

SUBIC FREEPORT – After a nationwide search for a name, officials of Ocean Adventure, a marine theme park here, announced yesterday that the newest member of their family – a female dolphin calf – will be named Lana.

“She’s been wonderful since we first laid our eyes on her last Aug. 31 and now I’m glad that we have a name for her,” said Gail Laule, executive vice president of Ocean Adventure.

The company earlier engaged the public through its social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter in its search for a name for the calf which was born to a dolphin named Hali.

From the hundreds of names that were suggested, staff members of the marine theme park voted for Lana, Laule said.

She said Jean Balquin, Ocean Adventure laboratory manager, also endorsed the name Lana.

Balquin said that when they were asked to name the baby dolphin, their laboratory personnel initially came up with the name Halo.

“But we wanted to choose something that’s synonymous to sunny or sunlight, and we found out that the name Lana means ‘light’ in Greek and ‘calm waters’ in Hawaiian. So that’s what we chose, and we were surprised that it got the most number of votes,” Balquin said.

Lana is approximately 1.25 meters long and weighs 20 kilos.

“She is being tended to by Ocean Adventure staff who are working round-the-clock to assure optimal care for mother and baby,” Balquin added. – With Bebot Sison Jr.