Dolphin born at Chicago-area zoo dies unexpectedly

BROOKFIELD, Ill., Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A female dolphin born at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago has died at less than a week old, zoo officials said late Thursday.

The calf born Aug. 2 to Allie, a 26-year-old bottlenose dolphin, declined suddenly after its birth was publicly announced this week and died Thursday morning, they said.

The first month of a dolphin's life can a difficult period and they often struggle to survive past that point, officials said.

"We see it both, unfortunately, in the wild and within a zoo setting," Michael Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for the Chicago Zoological Society, told the Chicago Tribune. "It's a difficult situation with a young dolphin."

The public had not been given the chance to view the calf before her death, and it had not been given a name.

A necropsy was scheduled to determine the calf's cause of death, zoo officials said.

"We learn from every event here, good or bad," Bill Zeigler, senior vice president of collections and animal care said.