Aquarium of the Pacific | Aquarium Blogs | Volunteering
I’ve been asked by visitors to the Aquarium what my favorite pinniped is. Most of them expect my answer to be either the California sea lion (like Miller) or the Harbor seal (like Ellie) because of how much I work and play with these critters. They are surprised when I tell them that the Elephant seal is actually my favorite. This is the story of how a young elephant seal once saved this volunteer from a mauling by a pack of wild animals.
I spent another day with the kindergarteners at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, with which the Aquarium of the Pacific has a partnership, helping Emily teach this month’s science lesson on eggs. We showed the children that chickens aren’t the only animals that lay eggs, and they were totally amazed when they saw how large a leatherback turtle grows, after being born from an egg that is roughly the size of a ping-pong ball.
Roughly 12,500 Pacific Ocean animals representing almost 500 species reside here at the Aquarium. No matter what their differences in appearance or habitat, all of them rely on one very important ingredient in their daily lives: seawater.
In an odd paradox; when one visits the home of Skippy the Mudskipper one has to look underwater for snakes and above water for fish. Skippy and his mudskipper buddies are quite entertaining to watch so this week’s blog also includes a video of Skippy who acts more like a dog than a fish.
Just because you don’t have a handy sea lion around doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun training animals. Any critter can be trained as long as you know what makes it happy!
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