In the latest cute video care of the Seattle Aquarium, the gang’s all here: the now month-old female otter pup, mom Aniak, and dad Lootas. Because who wouldn’t want to laze about in a kiddie pool full of ice? At the Aquarium’s blog, there’s another clip of the little one playing with an ice cube, if you need more cuteness to kick off your Friday.
Meanwhile, today’s the last day to vote on the new pup’s name. The name with the most votes will be announced on Monday, and the smart money’s on Shi Shi. Unless you want to punish the pup by naming her Sequim.
And if so-ugly-it’s-cute is your thing, check out this video of the brand-new baby aardvark at the Brookfield Zoo:
If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when two octopuses get it on, wonder no more. The good folks at the Seattle Aquarium set up two of their eight-armed friends for Valentine’s Day and filmed the subsequent union:
The Octopus Blind Date was a success! On February 14, 2012 at noon we removed the barrier separating our male and female octopuses on exhibit for our Octopus Blind Date! After our female octopus, Mayhem, played hard to get for a little bit, both animals came together.
“Came together” indeed. Looks like the male octopus, Rocky, figured out that roses and Barry White will always get you laid. Good thing those two aren’t shy, as there were plenty of voyeurs on hand for the mating festivities, taking photos and even applauding the action.
All of this serves as a precursor to the Aquarium’s Octopus Week, starting this Saturday and running through the 26th. The cephalopod porn stars will be off to greener pastures soon, as Mayhem will be released into the Sound beneath the Aquarium pier during Octopus Week on February 18th, followed by Rocky on the 25th. Probably a good idea, unless you want to see a snuff film; turns out octopuses die shortly after mating.
On Sat Feb. 11 10am-3pm, animals at Woodland Park Zoo will receive divine Valentine’s Day treats such as herbal bouquets, heart-shaped steaks, and more. Here's a red ruffed lemur indulging in a heart-shaped grapevine wreath. Photo credit Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo
Spurred by the death of at least seven sea lions and one harbor seal, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is offering a ten-grand reward to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for shooting the sea mammals in the head. Last year, Sea Shepherd offered a reward of $11,500 and caught the man responsible for killing twenty-two sea lions in New Zealand. As per usual, if you see something, say something: to report information on the sea lion shootings, please contact the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 800-853-1964.
In happier sea animal news, the baby sea otter at the Seattle Aquarium is getting bigger and cuter, so be sure to check out the otter cam and vote for her name now through February 24th. And for Valentine’s Day, at noon the Aquarium will be playing matchmaker at the Octopus Blind Date, with an octopus male and octopus female and Barry White music pumped in (TWSS) to set the mood. That merely serves as a precursor for Octopus Week, which has tons of activities featuring our eight-armed friends.
And of course, the Woodland Park Zoo has a Valentine’s Day event too: all day Saturday the animals will receive special treats for the big day, from heart-shaped ice pops to herbal bouquets and heart-shaped steaks. No wonder February 11th is World Happy Day.
SQUEEEEE! Sea otter Aniak with her female pup born 1/14/12. Photo: C.J. Casson, Seattle Aquarium
It’s been a busy few weeks in zoo animal news, so let’s do a rundown. The big baby announcement came from the Seattle Aquarium on January 14th: a new sea otter pup born to second-time mother Aniak. And it took the Aquarium eleven days to determine that the now nearly five-pound pup is a girl! (The need for mother-and-pup bonding time trumps our NEED TO KNOW.)
Being a female otter pup has its advantages, as Traci Belting, the Aquarium’s curator of mammals and birds indicated that “if the pup were a male, once it grew up, it would need to be transferred, so as not to cause conflicts with the father otter, Adaa. Now we know she can stay right here with her mother, Aniak, and her grandmother, Lootas.”
The new baby otter doesn’t yet have a crazy name of her own (no doubt it’s geographically-appropriate Inuit). So let’s just call her Kitty, and leave it at that. But noooooooo…everybody has to have their say, and thus the Aquarium will announce plans to invite the public to vote on possible names in a few weeks.
So head to the Aquarium to catch the pup while she’s still fluffy. Otters typically begin to shed their fluffy pup fur at about six weeks–and by ten weeks her coat will like an adult’s. The upside of losing all that fluff? Then the pup will be able to dive, which means plenty of swimming lessons from her mama. And just in time! Otters learn to open shellfish (by biting or pounding shells together on their chests) when they’re about three months old.
An endangered Visayan Warty Pig female. Photo by Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo.
Meanwhile, the Woodland Park Zoo had a couple big babies of their own to announce: their 2011 attendance, which exceeded one million for the 11th consecutive year (1,094,514 visitors), and their private donations of $12.8M, the highest since the zoo began operating as a private non-profit in 2002.
And coming this May “mohawked” Visayan warty pigs from Asia and warthogs from Africa will debut at the zoo. In both cases, think a more punk, woolier version of the Wooly Pig. The zoo showcases will evoke the pigs’ endangered habitat in the Philippines, as well as that of their warthog cousins in the arid East African savanna. The zoo knows how to sell these critters: “Get ready to see some serious rooting, dusting, and wallowing.”
What’s bigger news than pigs with mohawks? The Zoo’s new penguin-feeding experience!
Here’s your chance to feed our tuxedo-clad birds! For $5, feed the zoo’s Humboldt penguins a handful of tasty fish and experience these endangered birds hand to beak. Feedings are offered through April 1, 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. daily at an enclosed area of the penguin exhibit.
You can call him Al. (Photo care of the Seattle Aquarium.)
It’s a sad day at the Seattle Aquarium, as nineteen-year-old northern fur seal Al was euthanized this morning. Al had a rather auspicious life, considering that after a disorienting ocean storm and a half-mile trip on land through forests, the months-old pup was discovered in a Hoquiam cow pasture in January 1993. Unable to take care of himself in the wild, he was transferred to the Seattle Aquarium and named after then newly-inaugurated Al Gore.
Nearly two decades later, Al had become “Big Al” and topped six hundred pounds (some would say the same about Al Gore), but he had also reached old age and declining health (ditto). It had become difficult for Al to eat and get around, so the staff and the Aquarium’s vet had to make the decision to put him down. It’s rare for a male fur seal in the wild to live past his mid-teens, so it seems like Al did pretty well for himself after all.
Al’s remains have been donated to the Burke Museum, as well as a researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Al is survived by his son, Isaac, eleven years old, currently on loan to the breeding program at Boston’s New England Aquarium, and his fellow Seattle Aquarium northern fur seals Woodstock and Commander.
