The Road to Otter Health, part II

Who isn't getting sick of the snow? I certainly am. But, I know someone who loves every little snowflake that she can get her paws on!

At least someone appreciates all the snow we've gotten around here this winter!

Anang (also known as Haley) has always loved the snow. We've noticed that when she gets buckets (and buckets and buckets!) of snow, she plays for a lot longer then she might normally with other "toys" at one time.

Today I gave her five buckets of snow in her holding area, where she is spending all of her time to heal. This is the reaction I got! 

We've also found that the cold snow really helps with any inflammation (as it is hard to give her ice packs to hold on her arthritic joints or leg). After playing in snow, she seems more mobile and active, which is great! 

The Road to Otter Health, part I

(Editor's note:  Anang the river otter is often called Haley by Aquarium staff.  It is her nickname and the name she had when she arrived at GLA more than a decade ago.) 


"Haley has a WHAT!?!" 

When the vet came back from looking at Haley's x-rays (which we do routinely at each exam, especially since she has arthritis), she simply stated "She has a fracture in her fibula." Curator Heidi and I were so surprised! Sure enough, you could see a little fracture in that tiny bone next to her tibia.

Well, let's start from the beginning. About a week before her vet visit, we noticed that she seemed a bit lethargic, and she didn't always have a good appetite. We did a fecal exam (just like your vets do for dogs and cats) to rule out any parasites or large amounts of gut bacteria. We always do those first to make sure it isn't something we can simply medicate for without sedating her. It came back normal. When after a few days she didn't seem to be feeling much better, we decided to make an appointment at the vet.

This is where her training comes in really handy. She is VERY smart. She hates going to the vet, and we never force an animal to do anything...so we let her decide if she will go in her transport crate. She didn't want to, so we tried again last Tuesday. This time, she went in willingly, but was still surprised when I closed her in.

Anyways, we did a routine check of her entire body, just like a regular checkup. And, all of her teeth look great (you know when you have a sore tooth? They can REALLY hurt.). Her joints moved well, her organs felt good, so then we moved into x-ray. She has arthritis in her back hips and knees, and has for most of her adult life. So we expected to see that on those x-rays. We also look for any other abnormalities in her body cavity or kidney stones or anything else.

We did NOT expect to see a little broken fibula.

After our "What?!?", our second question was, "how do we fix it?" Poor girl!

Obviously we can't put a little cast on it! She's an otter and otters LOVE water. We were so happy to hear one of our vets say that she has the best brace we could find, an intact tibia! Phew. That is great news! So, the recovery means rest and relaxation for that leg.

Easier said than done.

While she does in fact love her bed and blankies, she also loves to swim and play. That means we have to confine her to a smaller space to reduce her movement. She is now in her holding area where she can't climb around, therefore putting less pressure on her back legs. She sometimes likes to wait by the door to go out on exhibit, but then sees her fresh pool and realizes she has to stay in back, and goes for a swim or plays with her toys.

We still give her enrichment and things to do. This morning, she got her favorite stuffed animal, a large gorilla puppet. She loves to groom him and cuddle with him.

 This is her in her half dog crate with two blankies and her gorilla. 

She seems pretty happy burrowed under those fresh blankies!

We also switch out her beds (crate, fire hose bed, dog beds, etc.), give her leaves, straw, and branches, and lots of other things.

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs on Haley.  I'll try to get some videos of her playing with enrichment!

A Ship(wreck)'s Log

Opening an exhibit is a very exciting adventure. There are many moving parts with the development of an exhibit for Great Lakes Aquarium, from designers, researchers, construction, and animal husbandry. I would like to share this experience, and offer a behind the scenes look as this exhibit begins to surface.

The ceremonial closing of the doors, on November 8, was the proverbial switch that started the construction of the exhibit.

If you are an avid reader of "Just Add Water" you may be aware of the work that has been accomplished such as moving animals from the Masters of Disguise,  the removal of the exhibit pieces and cleaning out the room.

Here is where we are now.

Though we don't have water in the new exhibit yet we have to start collecting animals many months before we open. There are various reasons for this. First, we have to be prepared for animals when they are available, not at our leisure. The smooth hound sharks, for example, were donated from the Indianapolis Zoo and other fish we received in trade for the animals that we had in the Master of Disguise exhibit.

Smooth hound shark

Cownose ray acclimating to his temporary home.

Cownose having a swim around his new home.

Having these animals early gives us the opportunity work with them as well. Currently we are training our sharks and rays to be target fed by hand. Target feeding means we actually "target" each animal to ensure that each one receives food. This is especially important for the sharks and rays because we want to make sure that they get a specialized vitamin that is essential for a good diet. The other training that we are working on is letting the fish know when it is time for them to eat. We have different shapes and designs that we place in the water to let the rays or sharks know when it is time to eat.

Barb with stingray "target".

Smooth hound shark "target".

 This is critical for the rays who have to eat three times a day, as opposed to the sharks who are fed three times a week.  These steps will  ensure that each of the sharks and rays will be fed, and give our husbandry staff an opportunity to observe the animals, once they are on exhibit.

Darin feeding sharks.

As we are busy coordinating the animal collection other gears are moving to make this exhibit come alive.
If you're a frequent guest to our aquarium, you will not only have a close encounter with the amazing animals, but your experience will be enhanced by in-depth information about habitat, natural history, or just an amazing story about the exhibits. This is achieved by eye-catching signs and graphics, video, or hands-on interactives.
Well, Shipwrecks Alive! will be no exception. In order for us to develop these pieces we must do our homework. As we speak our research team is diving into the subject, immersing themselves with information on the animals that we are displaying, and shaping the unique story that the shipwrecks have.

Director of Education Sarah Erickson and Volunteer Coordinator/Educator Mary Pensak developing shipwrecks story.

Last, but not least, is the construction. In the last couple of weeks we have finalized and ordered a 10,000 gallon saltwater aquarium. We are putting the finishing touches to the floor plan and tying up some loose ends in the exhibit hall before any construction can begin. A big part of this exhibit is going to be water. We plan to have about 15,000 gallons of saltwater in this exhibit. In order for us to manage this volume of water we need an equally large storage container to mix and store the saltwater. The tanks are 6 feet in diameter and 10 feet high and each tank holds 1500 gallons of water.
Luckily for us these tanks are not very heavy because due to their size they were a little awkward getting into the aquarium.

This is just the beginning. In the next couple of weeks we will begin construction of the exhibit, install the filtration system for the aquariums, and finalize the story.
I look forward to sharing more of this exciting adventure on the next Ship(wrecks)'s Log.

--Jay

Great Lakes Aquarium's Top 5 of 2013

'Tis the season for leftover cookies, days spent with family and making plans for the future.  It's also a traditional time to reflect on the year that was.

At Great Lakes Aquarium, 2013 was quite a year.  Between planning, designing, researching, educating and caring for animals we're stepping back to look at what we've done and what we're just getting started.

5.  The Gitchi Gummi Connection
In 2013, Great Lakes Aquarium launched its first-ever interactive videoconferencing program, bringing Lake Superior and freshwater education to students across the country and, potentially, the world. 

Our pilot program classes, Urgin' for Sturgeon and Aquatic Invaders, went live in early 2013, in K through 5 classrooms as far away as California.  

New classes such as Food Web In-Motion and Culvert Design & Engineering, with curriculum for middle and high school students helped us reach more than 700 students this year.

Stay tuned for new, fun classes for kids called Water is Weird and Totally Turtles.  Who doesn't love a good turtle story?

4.  Energy Efficiency Partnership

The water wall at Great Lakes Aquarium has been, from the beginning, the grand centerpiece of our facility's entrance. The massive display in the Aquarium's lobby has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors with its symbolic homage to the waters of the world.  

Yet this year, something is different.  

New, dramatic, lighting which washes the wall in a cascade of colors provides not only a visual change, but a new direction in energy efficiency at Great Lakes Aquarium.

The ceiling-mounted LED system was recently installed with funding and design support from Minnesota Power's Power of One Business energy conservation program.   

It is one of several energy efficiency initiatives being undertaken through a unique partnership between Minnesota Power, the city of Duluth and the Aquarium.  The Aquarium has also installed variable speed drives on pumps that move water through its tanks and filtration systems.  Plans to upgrade lighting to LED throughout the building are underway with a long-term goal of reducing the building's electrical energy consumption by 30%. 

And, as projects are completed, Power of One rebates from Minnesota Power will be deposited into an energy-efficiency fund to help pay for future energy-saving upgrades.

3.  The Discovery Center
Education is at the heart of everything we do at Great Lakes Aquarium.  

Plans for a bright, spacious education center called the Discovery Center with three new classrooms, a teacher resource center and a distance-learning studio will help us enhance our ability to fulfill our mission in the years to come. 

The Discovery Center will double our available classroom space, allowing Great Lakes Aquarium to grow our increasingly popular educational programming.

While this is a 2014 project, much of the groundwork for the Discovery Center had to happen this year.  Great Lakes Aquarium received $125,000 in gifts and challenge grants from the Minnesota Power Foundation to make this vision a reality.  In the past month, the Aquarium met its $50,000 challenge for 2013 and is well on its way to meeting the 2014 challenge. 

Construction will begin in the coming months. 

2.  The Story of Shipwrecks Alive! 

Anticipation is building for the opening of our most ambitious, most extensive exhibit design since Great Lakes Aquarium opened its doors more than 13 years ago. 

The story of Shipwrecks Alive! started early in 2013 at the Capitol in St. Paul where, after months of planning, lobbying and presentations to legislative committees, Great Lakes Aquarium secured a $200,000 Legacy Funding Grant to bring home to the city of Duluth.  That grant, along with $50,000 in matching funds from the city's tourism tax surplus gave us the foundation to move forward on this huge project.

The $423,000 Shipwrecks Alive! project is being constructed in the Sandra and Roger Karon Exhibit Hall replacing Masters of Disguise, which closed November 7 after a more than three year run.  

Work began immediately.  Within 24 hours, Masters of Disguise was completely dismantled.  And construction of a wildly redesigned space continues.

Shipwrecks create hauntingly beautiful habitat for aquatic plants and animals.  Shipwrecks Alive! will explore these underwater ecosystems by focusing on three different wrecks, one in Lake Superior, one in the Mediterranean and one in the South Pacific.  

And the animals are already arriving.  The Aquarium has received dusky smooth-hound sharks, cownose stingrays and many tropical fish that will populate our Shipwrecks Alive! tanks.

The animals are currently housed in our holding room in the lower level of our facility.  Shipwrecks Alive! Sneak Peek tours are offered daily (free with admission) for visitors to get a look at our beautiful new residents before they go on exhibit.

1. Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life
Our crowning achievement of 2013 was a true labor of love for Great Lakes Aquarium.

The new exhibit, Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life opened to much fanfare in June of 2013, after months of intense work completed mostly by in-house staff.

Fire, Ice and the Rise of Life is an adventure through time, from lava flows to vast oceans to grinding glaciers, the exhibit explores the explosion of life in the region that became the Great Lakes. 

The spectacular centerpiece is a fossil cast of a Dunkleosteus skull, a ferocious-looking, ancient armored fish that grew to the size of a school bus. 

A grand opening celebration started with an unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony with Duluth Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors. 

An open house reception followed with members, special guests and dignitaries including Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon and Betty Ramsland, both Great Lakes Aquarium board members,  

Representative Mary Murphy and Minnesota Public Radio's Patty Mester, also a GLA board member,

and Duluth Mayor Don Ness with his son, Owen, who delighted in our new animals and dinosaur shadow puppets.  

As we look back we know none of our accomplishments and milestones would have been possible without the incredible support from our members, our city and our larger "community" across the country.  
 From all of us at Great Lakes Aquarium, thank you. 
2014 is going to be big.  
We're very excited to get to it.

Albino Mutant (not Ninja) Turtles

What's smaller than a house key, is painted but still lacks color?

This little guy.

This is one of two albino western painted turtles at Great Lakes Aquarium.

This is the other one.

  A woman in St. Paul found five albino hatchlings in her backyard.  Concerned about their ability to survive in the wild, she called the Department of Natural Resources.  The DNR came to her house and collected the turtles.  Shortly after that, two of them were placed here.  

The head of herpetology at the DNR felt Great Lakes Aquarium would be able to provide a life-long home for them and the turtles, in turn, would offer an educational opportunity to our students and the public. 

 

The genetic mutation behind albinism causes a lack of pigment in the skin – making these turtles appear white with red eyes.  However, their bottom shell (the plastron) still has markings of red and orange typical of Western Painted Turtles.
And these babies are growing!  When they arrived at Great Lakes Aquarium, a little over a month ago, they weighed approximately 4 grams each.  Today, one weighed in at 5.7 grams, the other 5.9 grams.  They're still tiny, adorable, and yes, smaller than a house key.
See? 

Currently, the albino western painted turtles live in a tank located in one of our classrooms.  They will need to grow in a healthy, protected environment for many years before they're able to go out on exhibit.  However, discussions are underway to build a space for them in front of the classroom window so they can be visible to the public.

If you'd like to learn more about these turtles, tune in to KBJR news, channel 6, tonight (Monday, Oct. 21) at 6pm.  They'll be featured on Nature Matters.

Coming Soon...The Freeway Show

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.

How to Fix Your Time Machine

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.