Painting with Paws

Who doesn't like to finger paint?

Why, you ask, would I every give the otters paint and paper? Obviously, it is fun for us, but what on earth is in it for them?

Enrichment. Enrichment is how we make all captive animals lives a little more exciting. The otters eat, sleep, and swim in the same spaces daily. It is our job and duty, because we house them here, to make every day a little different.

As their keeper, I enrich them at least three times each day. Yep, three times. I will tell you all about their abundance of enrichment items another time.  Today, let's talk about painting.

Paint has a squishy, wet, slippery texture. It is way different than any of the other textures they come in contact with on a daily basis. What could we compare it to that they might come across? Mud. They would definitely come up mud now and again in the wild, so it is safe to say that this texture wouldn't be too crazy for them.

I have offered it in many ways. I give them lots of options. One of which is that they can always choose to not step on the paper or paint. They can go around it at any time. I leave some paper blank, and some covered completely in paint. Either way, they can step on one and not the other, or they can go over all of it. It's up to them.

Check out our website for paintings we have for sale now! www.glaquarium.org or www.great-lakes-aquarium-gift-shop.myshopify.com/ 

Snuggle anyone?

Who doesn't like to snuggle?

Well, truthfully, Anang doesn't. She would much rather sleep alone in a large pile of soft blankies. But, Zhoosh would love to cuddle up with Anang once in a while.

Otters are very social animals. They often groom each other, play with each other, and sleep with each other. But, otters also have strong personalities, and can have conflicts too.

The otters at the Great Lakes Aquarium have more of a brother-sister relationship. Sometimes they wrestle, ignore each other, yell at each other, and other times they can be found sleeping in the same cave.

You can see Anang sound asleep on top of her two blankies. She is curled in a ball so it is a bit hard to distinguish her features. And, surprise, who comes peaking around the corner? Zhoosh is so funny. He is just wondering what on earth I am doing in his cave.

(Right before this picture, Anang lifted her head and yelled at Zhoosh to leave her be. But then I told her it was lunch, so she should get up anyways.)

The Grand Opening of Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life

The journey through billions of years of Great Lakes history will take you past volcanoes and glaciers, prehistoric predators the size of a school bus and a variety of strange and fascinating fossils and animals.

And that's just what our guests saw last night at the grand opening of our new exhibit, Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life.
Members, city leaders and other visitors gathered to celebrate the completion of the exhibit.

 Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon, a long-time GLA board member, was on hand (pictured with GLA board member Betty Ramsland).

Representative Mary Murphy stopped by to explore the exhibit (pictured with GLA board member Patty Mester).

And Mayor Don Ness brought his son, Owen, who especially enjoyed the snapping turtle and these puppets for our shadow puppet wall.  This was the photo of the night!

Many families strolled the exhibit floor, contemplating this epic scale of evolutionary history to the soothing sounds of a string quartet.

Thanks to each and every member, supporter and fan of Great Lakes Aquarium.  We hope you will visit Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life soon.

Great Lakes Maritime Academy on view

An unexpected bit of maritime history is on the Duluth harbor for your viewing pleasure.  At least it was unexpected to me.  A Great Lakes Maritime Academy training vessel pulled into port right outside Great Lakes Aquarium this morning.

 This is the 224-foot former Navy submarine surveillance ship Persistent, which is now T/S State of Michigan.   Built it 1986, it was part of a series of 18 Stalwart-class T-AGOS vessels designed to tow sonar for tracking Soviet submarines.  The fleet was decommissioned at the end of the Cold War. 

Now this vessel is used to train future ship officers and engineers providing hands-on navigation experience.  The students on board this ship could one day be at the helm of those red giants which pass under the Aerial Lift Bridge.  

The two-month training cruise starts and ends in Traverse City, Michigan.  But it's only in Duluth until tomorrow morning.  Consider taking a stroll on this perfect Duluth day to take a peek.  No tours are available.  But you can get right up close to it.   

 

Hog Nose Snakes

Hog nose snakes are pretty neat! We have two Eastern Hog Nose snakes here at the Great
Lakes Aquarium.

We got the sisters when they were only 17 grams and 24 grams! That is like holding about 17 paper clips in your hand. That is how small they were! Can you believe it?

Their names are Tala and Nita. Tala means wolf and Nika means bear.

Did you know that toads are their primary food source. They can also feeds on frogs, salamanders and small mammals. It has large teeth in the back of its mouths to puncture inflated toads to make them easier to swallow. But, here at the Great Lakes Aquarium they eat small frozen, thawed mice.

This photo shows Nala right before the lights go out for the night. Hog nose snakes are nocturnal, so she was getting more active as the night drew closer.