Ayers the bat recovers from surgery

Thanks to the help of the Aquarium’s veterinary staff and Dr. Anne Minihan, a surgical specialist from Chesapeake Veterinary Surgery Specialty, Ayers, a grey-headed flying fox, or fruit bat, is now recovering from a broken wing.

Ayers is a 7 year old flying fox that lives in the Aquarium’s Australia exhibit. In mid-August, he suffered a distal humerus fracture. Ayers’ skin was torn open allowing his humerus bone to protrude through. This type of injury is difficult to stabilize and put Ayers at risk for developing an infection. In bats, the humerus bone is surrounded by tissue that creates the flying surface of the wing, so a cast was not an option.

The best chance Ayers had to regain full function of his wing was to bring in Anne Minihan to complete a surgical fixation. Surgery was performed the day after the fracture occured, and it went very well but the recovery process is a slow one. There are several pins in place to stabilize the bone as it heals.  Ayers has been using his wing and thumb regularly now and is scheduled for another check by the orthopedic surgeon in the next few weeks. Even though Ayers is not fully recovered, the aviculturists in the Australia exhibits have said  he is acting like his batty self again!

Bats are commonly associated with Halloween and tend to frighten many people! Contrary to common believe, bats have no intention of bringing harm to humans. In fact, they do more for us than you may think. Insect-eating bats protect our crops, keeping costs down at the market. Fruit-eating bats help with pollination and seed dispersal, thus providing us with many commercial products and medicines.  Survival efforts are imperative worldwide because bats are such a vital part of our ecosystem. This halloween, celebrate bats!

Howie the sloth turns 1!

This week the Aquarium is celebrating the birthday of our very first sloth baby!

Baby Howie, a Linne’s Two-toed Sloth was born on exhibit in the Upland Tropical Rainforest on September 2, 2008. His parents, Rose and Syd as well as another adult female sloth, Ivy, have remained on exhibit with Howie as he has grown over the last year.

 At birth Linne’s Sloths weigh only 1 pound and are born with their eyes opened, claws intact and fully furred. They hold tight to their mothers and rely on them for warmth, security and milk for approximately one year. By this age, the baby sloth is normally a whopping 5 pounds and ready to venture out on its own. Howie and Rose parted ways right on schedule on August 31, just 2 days shy of his first birthday. Here is a picture of Howie and Rose, just days before they parted ways:

Howie can often be seen napping or enjoying his diet of zucchini, squash and grapes. Because the sloths live nestled in the rainforest trees, they are hard to spot! During your next visit to the Aquarium’s rainforest be sure ask an exhibit guide to help you find Howie and the other sloths.

In lieu of presents, you can TXT the word ACT to 20222 to give Howie a gift! Your $5 donation will support the care and feeding of Howie and his 16,000 friends at the Aquarium.

Stork stops by Sea Cliffs exhibit

The National Aquarium is happy to welcome “Squirt”, the newest addition to the puffin colony in the Sea Cliffs exhibit.  Hatching sometime last night after a 34 day incubation period, this is the second successful hatching for our orange banded female and black banded male. Puffins form a pair bond and typically return to the same nest ground year after year. This pair’s first chick hatched in 2006, and was the first puffin born at the Aquarium!

Squirt weighs just 37 grams right now but should grow to be about 32 cm, or 12 inches, tall. He will remain in the nest box which is located on the far left side of the exhibit for several weeks and will be fed by both parent birds there.

Healing Houdini, the bearded dragon

There’s no such thing as a “typical day” for the Aquarium’s veterinary staff. With dolphins that can weigh up to 500 pounds to frogs that weigh as much as a paper clip, our vets face different challenges every day. Some procedures require special skills, which is when the Aquarium turns to outside experts.

Last week, the Aquarium medical team faced a special challenge: “Houdini” is a four year old bearded dragon that is part of our animal programs team. If you’ve been at the Aquarium for one of our daily Animal Encounters in the Overlook, you may have met her!

In April, Houdini became very ill with fluid building up in her body and under her skin. Through weeks of intensive medical management, vets were able to get her back to normal behavior and appetite, but still weren’t able to determine the underlying cause. The diagnostic options were an exploratory surgery or endoscopy – both invasive- or advanced imaging of the soft tissues using a non-invasive MRI. An MRI would let vets look at Houdini’s ovaries, liver, kidneys and other organs without requiring surgery – the best option.

Rehabilitated turtle prepares for release

In July, a loggerhead sea turtle came to the Aquarium through our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP), which takes in stranded marine animals with the goal of treating them back to health and releasing them back into their natural habitats.

 Upon arrival the turtle was thin and her shell was covered with barnacles, mussels, and a thick growth of algae. To assess the turtle’s health, the Aquarium’s veterinary staff needed to evaluate the condition of her shell and check for any internal disease.

For this very special case, the vets called on the help of outside healthcare professionals. The radiology staff at John’s Hopkins Hospital stepped in to help. They volunteered their time and gave the Aquarium staff after hours access to their equipment, so the vets could get a good look at the turtles internal functions. Check out the video: