MvB is such a tease. He provided only one new penguin photo this morning (and a couple old vids) when he knows full well that will only serve to whet one’s appetite. And so THE PEOPLE DEMAND MORE.
I direct your attention to the gallery for an additional nine new baby penguin photos you won’t see anywhere else. That’s right, The SunBreak has nine more NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN BREAKING NEWZ photos of the Woodland Park Zoo’s new penguin chicks at their first weigh-in! (9 oz. and 11 oz., if you must know.) No upskirts. Not that it matters–the gender of the hatchlings has yet to be determined.
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:
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.
I look forward to the day when The Killing lives up to its potential and AMC backing and is interesting enough on its own that I don’t need to supplant my recaps with the latest Woodland Park Zoo news. This is not that day. Sunday’s episode began as I expected: with the federal agents letting Holder and Linden go, since they’re cops. As the episodes title (“Stonewalled”) would suggest, there are of course going to be issues when there’s different agencies whose investigations collide. I’ve seen enough seasons of 24 to know the bureaucratic chains of command hoo-ha that usually follows. Let’s hope that this isn’t turning into that. Let’s also hope that Rosie Larsen’s murder isn’t somehow tied up in a terrorist plot, because that would be too way out of left field. This week also led to the reveal that Holder is in AA (or NA, I suppose, since he was a former meth user)–also not too surprising, if you’ve been paying attention. Mitch left her kids in the garage with the engine running, though not long enough to take care of those buzzkills for once and for all. Richmond finally got a backbone and played dirty in his political campaign, allowing Jamie to leak the news that Mayor Adams has a mistress. And Linden’s son sent photos of the murder scene to his friends, which eventually made their way to the press.
Meanwhile, the zoo’s ocelot kitty is learning to fish. In the video above, shot last Friday, sixteen-week-old Evita explores the zoo’s tropical rain forest exhibit with her mother Bella, and together they pawed at the live fish that have recently been introduced into their environment. It was a gradual process, as the zoo first added still water to the exhibit, then turned on the stream, and then released trout into the running water. Give Evita a little time and practice, and she’ll be catching those fish in no time.
Also, today’s the last day for voting on the name for the zoo’s new reticulated python. Out of the 400 names submitted, the final five are: Java – in honor of its roots in Southeast Asia and Seattle; Rimbo – “jungle” in Indonesian; Kaa – from Jungle Book; Pogi – “good looking” in Tagalog; Sundara – “beautiful” in Hindi. Facebook polls close at 3 p.m.
A new male reticulated python has just gone on exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo and he needs a name. Through May 13, noon PDT, submit a name to the zoo’s Facebook page. Photo credit: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo
Over halfway through the thirteen-hour season, and The Killing is more like The Boring. I’m not alone in this opinion. The New Yorker had a negative review of the show in last week’s issue, and TV recapper extraordinaire Alan Sepinwall could barely bring himself to write about this week’s episode (“Vengeance”).
With good reason. What happened this week? Ummm…a whole bunch of nothing. Rosie Larsen’s dad didn’t kill Bennet Ahmed. Linden and Holder visited the Green Lake Mosque, which was somehow located in Rainier Valley. Linden missed her flight to Sonoma, so now her fiance won’t take her phone calls, but on the upside she got to teach her son the finer points of paintball. And a new Adams campaign attack ad proved to be a real bonerkiller for Gwen and Darren’s office sexytime. Stay tuned next week, when the butchershop FBI raid cliffhanger is easily resolved in the first five minutes, after Linden and Holder simply show the federal agents their police badges.
In more important news, the Woodland Park Zoo has a new snake. The eight-year-old male reticulated python weighs a hundred pounds (!) and debuted in his new zoo digs earlier this week in the Day Exhibit.
But that big ol’ python still needs a name. Animal lovers (or animal-naming lovers) are encouraged to submit their ideas for snake names on the zoo’s Facebook page (of course) between now and Friday, with the zookeepers’ picks for best five names going up for public vote next week. I know the zoo always prefers ethnically/culturally/geographically appropriate names for their animals, but just like with The Killing, I implore them to not be so boring or predictable. For python names, I suggest Egyptian Cobra, Honey Badger, or Kitty. Also acceptable: Huggy or Squeezy.
And in the MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF ALL, five Humboldt penguin chicks who hatched at the zoo three months ago made their public debut on Monday. Here they are swimming, for your daily dose of SQUEEEEEEEE.
