A Ship(wreck)'s Log II

Hello, again. I am so excited to bring you the next installment in A Ship(wreck)'s log. The last few weeks have been a flurry of activity. So let's raise the sails and begin.

Our construction team has renovated the exhibit hall to give us 250 more square feet of exhibit space, and completed the platforms for our aquariums. The aquariums are currently being built in California  and will be here in the next couple of weeks.
One of our aquariums will hold 10,000 gallons of water and is 18 feet long. The other aquarium will hold 4,000 gallons of water and will be 16 feet long. The platforms have to be pretty strong because our largest tank will be 80,000 pounds. Now since the platforms are finished the construction team can start building the rest of the exhibit.

Gary and Tom are constructing the platform for the ancient shipwreck display. This platform will hold the 10,000 gallon aquarium.

This platform is for the 4,000 gallon Pacific wreck.

Here's an example of exhibit walls.

Gary is doing some research on a curve at the top of one of the exhibit walls. This wall will be part of a graphic display for the Pacific Wreck exhibit.

Working on opening up the space.

Our husbandry team has been receiving new fish for the exhibit. Many of the fish we have come from accredited suppliers and from other zoos and aquariums.  But our newest residents are fish which were pets that became a bit too big for their homes.
Word to the wise, always do research on an animal before you buy it. I have seen many situations where adorable little fish have grown into over-sized predators . So make sure that the animal is a good life-long fit for your aquarium.
Here's a good example. One of the fish we received is a juvenile nurse shark. The nurse shark can grow to 14 feet as an adult and is a literal fish vacuum, so be wary.

This Nurse shark is very curious and is loving her new temporary home.

Hello from the Peacock grouper

This is one beautiful panther grouper, and I think he knows it.

In the next couple of weeks we will be finishing the installation of our filtration system and placing one of the new aquariums.  So make sure to look for the next installment of a Ship(wreck)'s Log, because it is really going to be exciting.

Until next time, fair winds and calm seas!

Jay

The Road to Otter Health, part III

(Editor's note: While Anang is off exhibit healing a broken bone we're continuing to provide behind-the-scenes looks at what she's doing to keep busy.)

If you've ever seen our otter exhibit, Otter Cove, or any of our bird exhibits for that matter, you might have noticed lots of "stuff" in them? Like small balls, logs, cardboard boxes, plastic animals, small pom poms, and blocks. We call these things enrichment.

What is enrichment? And why do we give enrichment? How on earth is a little box an enrichment? Well, let me tell you. Enrichment is a way to enhance animal environments, within the context of their own natural history. Changes to the exhibit are made with the goal of increasing animal's behavioral choices, or giving them more to do.

So, for example, we give our Green Wing Macaw, Leo, boxes with treats inside. You might say, "wait, he wouldn't get cardboard boxes out in the rainforest!" You're right.  But, he would have to find his food inside of things or all over the rainforest. So, instead of just giving him a pile of food, we put some of it all over his cage so he has to forage for it. 

With Anang (or Haley as we call her), our North American River Otter, we try to give her things that will bring out natural behaviors. One thing she loves to do it groom, so we give her snow, sand, straw, excelsior, turf, and blankets of different fabrics. We rotate them so she doesn't get sick of them. But, we also give her other things.  For example, today I gave her a dog kong. She really loves this purple kong. She has other kongs; red, green, pink, all of varying sizes and thickness, but the purple one is the favorite.

This morning I put one smelt into the kong, and she played with it for hours, seriously!

She took it in and out of the water and tried so hard to get that smelt!

She really liked my camera today, so she kept turning around to face it, and got super close.

 

 She thought maybe if she took it up on her little shelf she could get it out, but, no luck yet!

 

Trying so hard to get that smelt!

This one is my absolute favorite. (I am taking all of these through her holding bars, so that is why the angles and closeness are kind of strange!) This shows a great view of her super sharp claws and some of her whiskers. You can also see her cute little nose.