In Memory of Nuka

Shedd employees were saddened to learn that Nuka, one of the Oceanarium’s original sea otters, died on Thursday, May 27, at the Seattle Aquarium, where she had lived since 2001. The 21-year-old northern sea otter had been part of Shedd’s quartet of Exxon Valdez oil spill survivors. Like the others, Nuka (shown in the center of this 1990 photo) was a pup when she was pulled from the fouled waters of Prince William Sound in spring of 1989 and sent to a sea otter rescue center for around-the-clock care. Tiny pups orphaned or abandoned in the aftermath of the spill could not be released back into the wild on their own, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed them at qualified North American aquariums. Shedd’s were the first sea otters on display in the Midwest.

Beluga Calf Update - Next step, he gets a name!

If you haven’t visited the beluga calf in more than a few weeks, you will be amazed at his progress. He’s more than 6 feet long and weighs about 400 pounds. In fact, he has traded his fetal folds for rolls of baby blubber. He’s big enough to actively play with Bella, 3½ (and the calf’s full sister), and (half-brother) Miki, 2½. He even barges in on their games. The other day, the trainers placed a huge knotted nautical rope in Secluded Bay for the whales to play with. Bella and Miki were doing headstands on the bottom as they jostled to grab the end of the rope in their mouths. The calf used his head, literally, to push the big rope away from both of them. Did I see him crack a smile?

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 4

After breakfast we headed off to the island (Warderick Wells) to learn more about the terrestrial plants of the Bahamas and island formation. We played in the water at Emerald Bay and then headed to the park headquarters for a look around. After traveling a short distance to Brad’s Reef, we collected data for our projects on a reef located within the park. Cambridge Cay was our next destination at the south end of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. We snorkeled a reef in Cambridge Cove covered with live elkhorn coral. While on the reef we identified and tallied fish species found on this reef for the REEF organization. After dinner we hopped back in the water for our first experience for a night snorkel. The long-spined urchins were there to great us as we made our way up to the reef. All exhausted from a long day, we headed off to our beds.

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 2+3

The exploration has begun! Yesterday was an action packed day full of island walks and snorkeling the beautiful waters of Allen’s, U and Leaf Cays. However today (May 16th) we dove into our research projects and started to collect data. All of our research projects are different from one another, but all of our investigations concern Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Non-Protected Areas (NMPAs). The MPA we visit during the trip is called the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. Today we collected data while snorkeling a reef outside of the park. Then we traveled to the park and walked up Bush Hill Cay for a breath taking view of the Exumas. Next we traveled to Little Wax Cay to try our hand using a seine net to collect animals (quickly surveyed and then released). We traveled to Warderick Wells were the park headquarters are located and moored for the night, anxious to see what tomorrow’s explorations had in store for us.

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 1

Today we got a late start to our journey. Leaving Nassau, we saw some incredible sights. Giant hotels, large houses and magnificent bridges, showed us the enormous impact human activity can have. Once we got out in the open ocean things got a little choppy. We were all still trying to find our sea legs while we caught some rays (and some of us caught some z’s). We arrived in Allen’s Cays around 7 pm and listened to a lecture from our resident geologist Kelly Jackson. She taught us how the islands were formed and about the two different types of rock: Holocene and Pleistocene. Pleistocene is older and harder than Holocene, and it will ring when you hit it. After the lecture, we hit our bunks quite quickly to rest up for our busy day tomorrow.

Farmers market season begins!

One of my favorite spring activities is to make a fresh pasta with green garlic, yellow brandywines. In summer, I’ll throw in purslane and a handful of green zebras.

A mother's work is never done

Here’s a fun word: oophagous (OH-ah-feh-gehs). It means living or feeding on eggs. For Mother’s Day, another Shedd mom is the strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio. Despite its evocative common name, this species comes in a rainbow of solid colors and interesting patterns, such as Shedd’s tan, yellow and orange polka dot varieties, known to biologists as color morphs. (And, of course, these bright hues are a visual warning to would-be predators that the bite-sized frogs are toxic.) But it’s little O. pumilio’s parenting behavior that is really attention-getting.

Amazing Amazon mom

We’ve got lots of moms at Shedd. The biggest is beluga whale Puiji (and her calf was the biggest baby at birth, weighing 164 pounds). The flattest might be the tiger ray in Amazon Rising. Tiger rays (Potamotrygon schroederi) must get their common name from their striped tails, because their disks have a dense pattern of small golden rosettes on a dark brown background.

Moms in the aquatic world

We’re thinking about moms in the aquatic world as we approach Mother’s Day on Sunday, but parenting is teamwork among some fishes, including two species of cichlids that live in rivers: quetzal cichlids of southern Mexico and Guatemala, and twinspot jewel cichlids, from West Africa. Each has fry that you can see right now in the Rivers gallery. The colorful quetzals have a swarm of tiny fry that the mom and larger dad round up on the back wall of the South America habitat. These doting cichlids give their offspring the scales off their backs, or at least skin secretions that the little ones feed on. They also herd the fry across the bottom in search of microinvertebrates. The parents crunch up larger food and regurgitate it to the babies. If any of the little ones stray on one of these outings, mom or dad will collect it in her or his mouth and spit it back into the group. You’ll also see another pair’s older offspring—several dozen inch-long fish—feeding on the bottom.

Gulf oil spill

As you are probably aware, a ruptured undersea well off the coast of Louisiana is spewing nearly 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of crude oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Efforts to shut off the flow have been unsuccessful since the late April explosion that sank the drill rig Deepwater Horizon. The leading edge of the slick is growing closer to the coasts of Alabama, Louisana and the Florida Panhandle. Obviously Shedd Aquarium is extremely concerned about the impact this oil spill will have on the animals that thrive along the coasts and within the Gulf of Mexico. We have been in contact with several federal, state and local organizations as well as colleagues in the affected coastal areas. We are currently evaluating what assistance we can provide – whether it’s sending our expert staff, providing support from Chicago, or financial assistance – Shedd is committed to helping where appropriate.

The Audubon Society and other organizations are in the process putting together their plans for when the oil reaches the shore; Shedd is waiting to hear that plan once the organizations have a better understanding of the level of damage. Please continue to check Shedd’s website (link to interactive) for updates on our potential involvement with relief efforts and more on how you can help. We greatly thank you for your concern.

Ilze K. Berzins, PhD, DVM
Executive Vice President of Animal Health and Conservation Education