For one male remora at Shedd, it's been tough to get a girl to let him "stick around" for Valentine's Day. Instinctively he has always wanted a large predatory fish or other marine animal to cling to for help finding food, transportation and protection. But he can recall countless rejections and brush-offs from the large fishes, who find him annoying and bothersome. This year, that feeling of solitude is all in the past. On Valentine's Day, our lovable remora will be happily gliding under the protection of a very special Shedd Aquarium lady.
I said goodbye to everyone at Gumbo Limbo and headed north about an hour to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Dr. Mette was doing a flipper amputation on a loggerhead and I was able to see the removal of a badly damaged flipper. This poor turtle was hit by a boat propeller and got osteomyelitis--fancy word to say bone infection. These infections are very hard to clear up, especially if they are so wide spread as this poor turtles was.
After the big round of surgeries yesterday we got in to find that one turtle recovered so quickly that he decided to get out of his pool and walk around the class room all night! Very silly turtle.
Heather, a Gumbo Limbo Turtle Research staff member, and I medicated all turtles and then started to decide where everyone should go.
Today we focused on surgery to remove the fibropapillomas (paps) tumors making it difficult for many of the turtles to move. Right now we think that these paps are a direct result of pollution. The most likely cause is “urban runoff” or pollution like fertilizers, oil and gasoline from streets and lawns washing into our water ways.
I got to Gumbo Limbo early to prep turtles and set up for surgery. There are many obstacles today: first, there are so many turtles that the surgery site does not have enough room to house all these turtles after surgery. We will use classrooms as a post-op site. Second, the weather is chilly so we have to heat up large classrooms to 80 degrees. Because turtles are cold-blooded, it’s important to regulate the room temperature.
The generally sunny and warm Florida climate has undergone a severe cold stunning event, which has stranded over 3,500 sea turtles across the state’s coast in a very short period of time. Abbey Grobe, a certified veterinary technician (CVT) on Shedd Aquarium's animal health team, has joined Dr. Nancy Mette and her staff at a sea turtle rehabilitation center in Gumbo Limbo, Florida to assist with the intensive health care, including surgeries, medical therapy and TLC, that is needed to help these stranded turtles heal.
We appreciate the many comments and thoughts we’ve received over the last week, and wanted to provide you an update on Naya, along with Puiji and her calf.
Naya, whose calf failed to thrive after a rare and difficult birth earlier this week, is doing extremely well. She is eating and playing with her trainers like normal, appears more relaxed, and is almost back to her old self. Because Naya has an incredibly strong bond with Puiji, and has been a nursemaid to many of our previous calves, she is currently swimming with Puiji and her calf in Secluded Bay. It’s encouraging to see Puiji’s calf spending time with Naya. In fact, Puiji’s calf currently spends almost 25% of its day with Naya, something that Puiji allows and Naya seems to appreciate.
UPDATE Dec. 22: Shedd Aquarium is deeply saddened to announce the loss of the beluga whale calf born Sunday afternoon to 20-year-old Naya. Puiji’s calf, born on Monday, December 14, continues to progress well through his bonding and nursing milestones. Read more.
At 2:25 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 20, one of Shedd Aquarium’s beluga whales, Naya, successfully gave birth to a male calf, with physical assistance from Shedd’s animal health and animal care experts. It is the first time a beluga whale calf has been successfully birthed with human assistance at Shedd, and only the fourth known in the zoo and aquarium community.
At 6:36 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 14, we welcomed Puiji’s calf into the Shedd family. Mom and calf are doing well.
When Puiji’s behavior changed Sunday, Ken Ramirez, Shedd’s senior vice president of animal collections and training decided to spend the night at the aquarium, joining marine mammals staffers already observing Puiji in Secluded Bay. Around 11:30 p.m., the 23-year-old whale went into labor, at intervals crunching her nearly 11-foot frame to move the process along.
For the top-to-bottom Oceanarium renovation, Kris Nesbitt, senior exhibit designer, and Kara Kotwas, senior graphic designer, saw the underwater viewing gallery as a blank canvas on which to create a universally accessible permanent exhibit where “all children can find something to do.”
