Get an insider’s look at what goes on at the Aquarium through the eyes of Assistant Curator Steve Blair. Steve’s duties include overseeing the care of our animals, ensuring aquarists on our staff have the training and support they need, and planning future exhibits.
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This week I’d like to share with everyone a list of the wonderful cast of animal characters that I’ll be working around on Saturdays during my volunteer shift at the Aquarium of the Pacific in 2012. We’ll start with the marine mammals.
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This has truly been an amazing whale watch season, and there are still so many months to go! Our interns for the spring arrived this week and on Tuesday we went out on the boats for a training. When I was walking down to the boat, Captain Chris asked me if I had my camera (which of course I always do), and he said “Good! It’s your lucky day!” Read on to find out what made this day extra special!
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There are few places in the world where you can stand in one spot and have the potential of spotting two dozen species of marine mammals. One of those places is in the Aquarium of the Pacific own backyard. The cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula just a few miles up the coast offers a unique vantage point for sighting marine mammals without having the threat of sea sickness.
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The American Cetacean Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization that advocates for marine mammal conservation. ACS has been counting gray whales during their annual migration and tallying the number of animals spotted each day, month, and season for twenty eight years. The 2011/2012 gray whale season has just started and we’re already breaking records!
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Since August of 2008 my wife Pam and I have been conducting an informal survey of the green sea turtles of the San Gabriel River for the Aquarium of the Pacific. While Pam handles the data gathering portion of the research I have the responsibility of photo documenting the resident turtles of this river that runs between Los Angeles and Orange County. In this week’s blog I’d like to share a few of the images that I’ve shot this past year of these improbable urban river residents.
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We’ve just kicked off gray whale season and we’re already having some great sightings out there! I was shocked when we started seeing gray whales so early, but after this last weekend, we can officially say orcas are debuting for the season as well. Read on to find out more on the orcas spotted this last weekend.
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During last year’s Holiday Treats for the Animals event, while the rest of the otters at the Aquarium of the Pacific were playing in the snowy landscape laid out for them by the staff in the sea otter exhibit, Ollie the orphan otter pup had to be content being by herself in her holding pen in the behind the scenes area. She was too little then to be in the main exhibit. This year however was different. On this year’s Holiday Treats Day, Ollie was in the exhibit enjoying her very first snowman!
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Around this time when we first move into gray whale season, it can be slow at time when we’re anxiously waiting for the first gray whales to pass by. So far this year we’ve had no slow times at all! Read on to find out what we’ve been seeing that’s kept this year’s whale watching off the charts!
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This week’s blog features 5 random snapshots from the Aquarium of the Pacific.
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Need gift ideas for the holidays? I did some Santa legwork for you in the Aquarium’s gift store, Pacific Collections, and assembled a pretty nifty gift guide to get you started.
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Karen, an aviculturist at the Aquarium of the Pacific, could see the big smile on my face after spending time around the penguins in their behind-the-scenes area. She could tell that I was catching “Penguin Fever,” the happiness that’s caused by being around these wonderful critters and their playful antics.
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We’re now into the first week of November and we’re still seeing blue and fin whales, and even a few humpbacks that have been in the area. Although the sightings are starting to get a little spotty, they’re still giving us a great show. Just this week we had some incredible lunge feeding and breaching whales!
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He’s one of the original inhabitants of Shark Lagoon. He looks big, bad and mean. But the Aquarists at the Aquarium of the Pacific know his deep down secret. He’s more Sherman from the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon than Jaws from the movie Jaws. He is “Big Guy”, the Laid Backed Sand Tiger Shark.
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This has been another exceptional year for blue whale watching. We’ve had hundreds of sightings, seen some incredible behaviors, and had very consistent sightings. Around this time the blue whales are normally leaving the area, and the sightings become a little spotty, but the sightings have never been better. It would seem they’re a little late in making their way to the winter grounds, but you won’t hear me complaining!
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