When it comes to intelligence, what animals come to mind?
Chimpanzees?
Parrots?
Dolphins?
Turns out you'll need to add crows to that list. Crows or corvids are considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals, according to recent studies. In fact, their brain size (relative to their bodies) approaches that of some apes.
Great Lakes Aquarium has a crow in residence. Freeway, an American crow like the ones you probably see and hear in your neighborhood, came to us about seven years ago. He was found injured on a freeway (hence the name) and was taken in by a family who cared for him. Since it is illegal to keep migratory birds as pets, he ended up here. And he's been showing us just how much he can do ever since. Part of his enrichment includes solving puzzles, completing tasks and opening containers. The rewards for a job well done are always positive reinforcement and, of course, food.
Earlier this year, Freeway moved to the exhibit floor (Level 1) next to Otter Cove. Now, he is nearly ready for his close-up. His skills will soon be part of a Creature Feature program where he'll delight and wow visitors.
Among his newly acquired skills, collecting "mail".
At the side of Freeway's exhibit we've designed a mail slot in which trainers (and soon, visitors) can insert "Freeway Bucks". Freeway collects them and puts them in his trusty bucket. He practiced today and, for the first time, took some bucks from a visitor. Her name is Maarit and it happens to be her birthday!
We put together a fun video this week showcasing all the amazing things Freeway has learned in a relatively short period of time. We think he's pretty special. We hope you do, too.
As folks know, we opened the Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life exhibit this spring. We’re so excited to have the gallery open and with a fresh face! When we design new exhibits, we think about the story, the look and feel of the space, the flow of people, the life support for the animals, the lighting, the interpretive programming…and we think about how best to reach people with different learning styles, backgrounds, reading levels and attention spans. People are often shocked to know that our signage is written at a 6th-8th grade reading level. Your local paper is written at about the same level. We try to present information in text, with a graphic AND often as a tactile manipulative experience (people can move the parts and experiment). Live animals count as an interactive experience too. The next time you’re in one of our newer exhibits, see if you can identify these different parts.
In Fire and Ice, one of our central themes is the exploration of geologic time. Have you thought about space and time? It can be a pretty mind boggling. It’s important to the story we tell in the exhibit that people do think about this. We planned on engaging people with geologic time in four different ways: through snap-shot stories in text, an outstretched arm graphic timeline, a narrated video and the hands-on manual operation of the “Time Machine”.
"Wait.What Time Machine?"
The Aquarium has a time machine?! How have I not heard about this? Sorry to get you all worked up. It’s really a big graphic belt that shows you how all of time and the sequence of events for the past 4.6 billion years are connected. Still super cool. Just not quite Michael J. Fox cool. Right now this exhibit is lying dormant behind brown paper.
Time machine in limbo.
And here’s why it still looks like this. One of our goals was to re-use or re-purpose components of the original Origins gallery whenever appropriate. Three cheers for re-using and recycling! The time machine exhibit was one of those selected to stay as a compliment to other exhibit content. Remember those four engagements with geologic time we talked about?
As the exhibit project rolled along, the re-installation of the time machine seemed like it would simply require relocation of the exhibit structure, fresh paint and a quick reprint of the graphic belt. We should have known. We’re old pros at curve balls in exhibit design and construction…"hmmm…this tank won’t fit in the elevator"... It turns out that this “simple” re-install is not so simple after all.
Let me take you inside the time machine.
The belt we are talking about is made of 37 feet of paper that has been stitched into a continuous loop. Text and graphics are printed on the belt in such a way that visitors are able to view about 4 feet of the image at a time through a plexiglass window. As visitors crank a hand crank, the belt winds its way over and around a series of drums, much the way serpentine belts work in your car. All of that hardware is behind the wall.
The paper timeline belt all rolled up for transporting.
The paper timeline belt unfurled on our office floor.
Four of the eight drums that move the belt for viewing. Two other sets of two are above and below this cluster.
When the exhibit was first installed (circa 2000), the paper belt kept slipping. There wasn’t enough friction between the belt and the drums to move it smoothly and steadily. After some initial problem solving, folks mounted the paper onto a rubber belt (actually lightweight thermoplastic) that provided more friction. Now the belt moved smoothly! One downside is that the added thickness caused the surface of the belt to rub ever so slightly on itself as it wound around the drums. After 13 years of use, the images were hard to read.
There are two parts to Mission: Replace That Belt.
The pretty part and the grippy part. Let’s tackle the grippy part first. Where could we get a new plastic belt? We reached out to our exhibit design friends at Split Rock Studios. Many of their staff were involved in designing and building the original Aquarium exhibits. They remembered it being a complicated project but didn’t remember where we got the belt in the first place. One of the biggest challenges (as touched on above) is getting the belt friction just right. We reached out to a few different production companies about printing on belts but all thought this was going to be really challenging or perhaps impossible to pull off.
After a bit more head scratching, our director had an idea. He once worked for the paper mill and he recalled the belts used to turn huge drums to convey the new paper. After a well-placed call to W.P. & R.S. Mars Company right here in Duluth, we now own a new 37.9 foot piece of lightweight thermoplastic to use as the grippy part of the belt!
Ok, now for the pretty part.
The original belt was printed in 1999. At that time, the graphic design process was significantly different than it is today. In fact, the file for the belt graphic was so large that the exhibit design company couldn't store the complete file on their computer. It had to be broken into smaller pieces. While we have the original files, many of them are unreadable with our current graphic design software. Cue the sad trombone.
Sometimes stumbling blocks present you with opportunities. And that’s how we are looking at this project. We will be redesigning the complete belt, all 37 feet of it, to update the content and make it mesh with our new exhibit “look”.
We’re diving into that in a big way this week. Wish us luck. We’ll let you know when Time Machine 2.0 is open for business.
Start thinking about how far back in time you’d like to go.
Funny things happen when you're plugging along, tending to daily business at Great Lakes Aquarium.
Sometimes that daily business can change...in an instant.
That happened today when a man strolling the lakewalk took an emergency detour into our facility. There's a goose in distress. He's in the lake and needs help, he said.
The first to respond was Jadell Cavallin. At the Aquarium she works in our husbandry department, in animal care. But she's also a certified wildlife rehabilitator who knows a thing or two about helping animals in distress.
It turns out the Canada Goose was in trouble. A length of musky line that was hung up in the pilings near the shoreline became tangled around his neck. His frantic attempts to swim away added immediacy to the situation.
After first putting on waders and attempting to reach the goose it became clear that more help was needed.
So, Jadell and Rob, our animal care volunteer, quickly changed into diving gear and headed out.
While the water was not deep, the rocks were slippery and the dive suits kept them safe and protected in chilly Lake Superior.
Jadell was able to reach the goose quickly and wrap her arms around his wings while Rob helped her cut the line.
Success. The goose was free, but clearly exhausted. He swam to shore, but couldn't climb up on the rocks to rest.
So, Jadell helped him out.
Once on stable ground, the goose waddled away toward Bayfront Park.
Maybe to tell his friends what happened.
Maybe just to honk like a goose.
I often wonder, or worry, what would happen if there was an emergency here at Great Lakes Aquarium. What would we do with all of the animals, or how would we save them? The USDA wonders that too. They check up on us twice each year to make sure we are keeping things clean, keeping good records of events, and of course, they look at our mammals.
So, we have come up with an evacuation plan for our animals. Right now, I am training Anang, our resident female river otter, to go in a crate so I can close her in and carry her to safety. Well, it might take two of us! The crate is large enough for her to fit in, plus her long tail! :)
How does one go about crate training a North American River Otter? Firstly, they are very curious creatures. They love new things, especially something they can go inside of, like a den. Crates are fun! Once she was used to the crate, I began training. The goal is to get her to go in the crate and turn around (so her tail gets in there!). Then, I'll close the door.
This is a work in progress. But, I will show you what we've done so far...
Anang is getting ready to start. (and obviously waiting for me to hurry up!)
Anang just finished her first target at the lip of the crate. She is eating her treat (fish!).
Halfway in!
Amost all the way in!
Getting ready to turn around!
IN!
Eating her reward!
Great!
And, this collage is the first day we tried it! She got it right away.
The next thing we will work on is closing the door, then moving it around.
We have a daily Otter Program at 2pm, or 1:30 on Wednesdays, so come in and see Anang! I would love to answer any questions you have about her!
The term enrichment is used quite frequently at the aquarium. It is
used to enhance the quality of life of our animals as well as for
training purposes.
We use enrichment almost daily for Anang
our North American River otter, Leo the Green wing Macaw and Pica the
Magpie. But can you believe we do enrichment for our fish as well?
This month, we're using live crickets for fish enrichment. We're feeding them to our Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus).
Normally,
we feed our grayling a mix of pellets and krill. But this enrichment
is a little more like what they would eat in the wild.
Arctic
Grayling are in the salmon family so, like many of the species in this
family, they love insects. If you happen on a trout stream you may see
little rings in the water which is more than likely the trout "sipping"
an insect floating on the water.
This video gives you an idea of what it looks like under the water as these beautiful fish aggressively go for the crickets.
As you watch this video you can really see how fish use their senses to find food.
One
of the senses the grayling are using is sight. Like many, fish are
visual predators and have excellent eyesight; in fact, their vision is
very close to ours. The other specialized sense organ the grayling use
is their lateral line. The lateral line goes along the body of the fish
and is a small hole in their scales. This organ allows the fish to feel
pressure changes and vibration in the water so the second the crickets
hit the water the fish can feel and see them.
This is just one of several different enrichment opportunities we provide for animals at the
Aquarium. They change with the seasons, just as food sources and
experiences would change for them in the wild.
It is hard for me, as director of operations, to believe that we have been open for 13 years.
It seems like just yesterday we were moving fish from our temporary holding area to the Aquarium. As with anything that has been running nonstop for thirteen years, some maintenance and updating needs to be done. One of the updates that we are working on is redoing our holding area. Actually, we were originally going to just replace the stands the quarantine tanks sat on but, decided that is was time for a complete makeover.
Holding is a room that has three main purposes:
1) Quarantine. Any time we bring an animal into the aquarium it has to be in quarantine for at least 30 days. This way we can ensure that it is disease-free as well as acclimated to our diets.
2) Hospital. When animals are sick, the holding rooms and tanks make it easier for us to administer treatments, make more up close observations, and lower the risk of the disease spreading to other animals.
3) (As the name suggests) Holding. This gives us a place that we can house animals while an exhibit is being constructed or updated.
I'll be tracking our progress over the next few weeks as we continue to work on a new holding area. Please keep checking in to see how we are doing. We hope to have this project finished before October so we can start bringing in animals for a NEW exhibit coming summer of 2014.
First step was to drain the tanks and take apart the the filtration.
Next we started to dismantle the tanks into sections to make it easier to move them.
After the tanks are in place we put them back together and use an epoxy coated mesh to waterproof the seam.
As the summer days wind down in Duluth, we're hoping for a few more weeks of the things we love. Warmer temperatures, sunshine, and green grass.
Even our animals that don't go outside love the summertime.
I've mentioned enrichments before, but I'll touch on them again. Enrichment is defined as a dynamic process for enhancing animal environments within the context
of the animals’ behavioral biology and natural history. Environmental
changes are made with the goal of increasing the animal’s behavioral
choices and drawing out their species-appropriate behaviors, thus
enhancing animal welfare.
Yikes, in other words, enrichment gives the animals something to do. In the wild, an otter would slide on snowbanks, dive into rivers, and swim in lakes. They hunt for all of their food, expending lots of energy, they play, sleep, and cuddle. Our goal is to do as much enrichment as we can.
I give Anang enrichment at least three times per day. For example, yesterday morning I gave her shrimp scattered around the exhibit, and then a small piece of honey comb. She could smell the shrimp and had to look for it. Then, she sniffed the honey comb. What is the purpose of that? Well, it's a different smell, texture, and taste. (3 enrichment goals in one!) ANYTHING different is enrichment, even if she doesn't like it or play with it. It still makes the exhibit different in a little way, and that is good! At bed time, she got two molted Leo feathers and a small cardboard box with meal worms in it. (Anang LOVES feathers and she really LOVES meal worms!) So, what did I give her at lunch? SOD! Yep, grass. Anang loves anything that she can roll in (sand, dirt, grass, wood shavings, etc.).
It was so great. I took a few pictures and a short video. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to capture the first thing she did... she went underneath!
After about 20 minutes, I called her back into the holding area so I could remove the sod from the water. She tried to flip it over to play on the dirt side, so in doing that, she pushed it into the water... So, I flipped it for her! Then, I let her back out.
