Mateo is a male bottlenose dolphin, born on August 12, 2003 at the Boudewijn SeaPark in the city of Bruges, Belgium. His parents are Tex and Linda, both natives of the United States: his father was probably born around 1974 and his capture took place between 1978 and 1980 in Rockport, Texas, while his mother was born in 1976 and was captured between 1980 and 1982 in the southeast coast of Texas.

Mateo's childhood was concentrated in the company of his mother and half-brothers, while his father was transferred to Marineland Antibès, in France, in the same year of his birth: two years later, Tex died suddenly.

At the age of three, Mateo and his mother Linda were transferred to the Aquarium of Genoa in order to avoid excessive overcrowding of the dolphin habitat in the Belgian dolphinarium. Upon their arrival, they made a brief meeting with an adult dolphin named Beta: two years later, on October 12, 2008, Beta died following a cardiac arrest.

Mateo grew up with his mother for the next six years: it was even reported, but never confirmed, that Mateo was able to conceive a baby with his mother, a pregnancy which then resulted in abortion on October 11, 2010. On the verge of reaching full sexual maturity, Mateo was again subjected to a new transfer to a qualified European facility, Marineland Mallorca in Spain.

We can deduce that Mateo's integration was carried out in the same way and as established by European regulations: it seems, in fact, that Mateo has forged a very positive bond with an adult male named Bue, 11 years older than him.