Oceanarium Reimagined: A Look Back

 
Here's a look back at the renovation of the reimagined Oceanarium. Thanks for supporting Shedd and visit us soon!



Posted by Jay Geneske, web editor

Meet Shedd sea otter Kiana

As the sun began to set on Shoop Bay, near Valdez, Alaska, a group of recreational boaters were pretty sure the tiny, screaming sea otter they’d been keeping an eye on all day had been abandoned by her mother, and they contacted wildlife authorities. The 2-pound pup was taken to the Alaska Sea Life Center and treated for dehydration and low blood sugar. Shortly after that, in late March of 2005, Shedd got a call from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, asking if we had room for an abandoned sea otter pup. Enter Kiana.

Meet Shedd sea otter Mari

Mari and Kiana, Shedd’s youngest otters, came to us as 2- to 3-month-old pups, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Kiana was a real rescue – either abandoned or orphaned – but Mari was most likely doing just fine when a well-meaning kayaker intervened.

Sea otters make the Right Bite

Shedd’s hungry sea otters chomp down 7,000 pounds of shrimp a year. The problem is, serious environmental issues such as habitat destruction and bycatch are associated with shrimp trawling and aquaculture. Bycatch, or unintentional catch, occurs when animals such as sea turtles, large fishes and seabirds become entangled in fishing gear. For every pound of shrimp netted in the wild, up to 10 pounds of unwanted marine life is also caught – and usually drowned or fatally injured.

Meet Shedd sea otter Yaku

At 80 pounds and 4 feet, Yaku is the big guy in Otter Cove. He’s also the only guy, an arrangement he seems to like.

Yaku was born at the Seattle Aquarium in 2000 and came to Shedd a year later. Like all of Shedd’s sea otters – and marine mammals – he was enrolled in our award-winning training program from Day One.

Sea otter pups rank way up there on the cuteness scale, and the adults display their playful natures as they somersault in the water, inch along on land, or tug at trainers’ boots during sessions. But as they reach maturity, these deceptively large animals with sharp canines and crushing molars become unpredictable. In fact, before Shedd demonstrated otherwise, most aquarium professionals dismissed these frisky, feisty marine mammals as untrainable.

Meet Shedd sea otter Kachemak

Shedd’s success in raising the four Exxon Valdez oil spill pups impressed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so much that a year after the spill, in 1990, the service called to see if the aquarium could take a month-old pup found stranded on a beach in Homer, Alaska. Wildlife officials speculated that the 6-pound otter had been separated from her mother during a storm.

Because the infant needed constant care, she was allowed to ride in the cockpit of the cargo jet, along with Shedd’s otter specialist and veterinarian, on the flight from Anchorage to Chicago. The otter was named Kachemak after the bay where she was found.

Meet Shedd's sea otters

During Sea Otter Awareness Week, Sept. 27 through Oct. 3, we’ll introduce you to Shedd’s five sea otters and tell you a little about how we care for and train these high-energy animals. To get a jump on things, someone you otter know is Kenai, the 20-year-old grand dame of the group and an Exxon Valdez oil spill survivor.

For several months after the March 24, 1989 disaster, hundreds of distressed otters were found along the inshore waters and beaches of the Gulf of Alaska as 11 million gallons of oil spread from the site of the spill in Prince William Sound southwest toward the Kenai Peninsula and beyond. So many oiled otters were showing up downcurrent that a second rescue center (the first was in Valdez) was set up in Seward.

An Amazing Oceanarium Opening

 
Pacific white-sided dolphins

Oceanarium Opening on YouTube and Flickr

We're celebrating the Oceanarium grand opening with special animal encounters and chats, animals to touch in the tide pool, games, stilt walkers, divers, magicians and jugglers!

Check out this video of a Shedd tot in a Polar Play Zone penguin suit:



See more footage captured by Shedd and our guests on our YouTube channel and Flickr group.


Posted by Jay Geneske, web editor

More Oceanarium Opening Photos

 
Members of Chicago Sky and 2016 Paralympians team join Amy Ritter-Cowen and Anna Davlantes (center) at Sunday's opening