A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience for Educators!

National Aquarium’s Education Department has announced a new workshop adventure, Costa Rica: Showcase of Conservation!

Join our Director of Education at the National Aquarium in Washington, DC, Bill Simpkins, for a 9-day excursion (July 9-18, 2013) as he transforms the vibrant and diverse ecosystems of this Central American treasure into a classroom.

Educators will get to know many of the country’s native species, including the squirrel monkey!

Each educator on the tour will receive a certificate of completion for the hours spent in “classroom” activities for verification and credit, if accepted by their school. Non-educators interested in joining the group are also welcome!

Workshop highlights include:

• A visit to Tortuguero National Park
• 3 nights of participating in the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s Turtle Tagging Program
• Exploring the rain forest in Braulio Carrillo National Park
• Exploring the Monteverde Cloud Forest
• A visit to the Arenal Volcano
• A visit to the Tabacon Hot Springs
• Wildlife/plant identifications
• Learning about the National Aquarium’s conservation initiatives in Costa Rica
• Discussions on the ecosystems visited and how to incorporate them into curriculum
• Lesson plans and activities on sea turtles, rain forests, cloud forests, volcanoes and hot springs

This could be YOU!

To learn more about this workshop and how to reserve your spot, click here. Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thoughtful Thursdays: Spotted! Seals Make Their Way to MD Shores

As temperatures continue to drop here in Maryland and along the East Coast, migrating seals are making their way back to our shores!

This seal was spotted near 28th street in Ocean City, Maryland! Photo via Maryland Coastal Bays Program

Seals are semi-aquatic (which means they like to spend part of the time in the water and part of the time on land). They will typically spend multiple days swimming south, only to haul out on beaches, rocks or docks to rest. Seals will also haul out on exceptionally stormy or sunny days – this gives them a chance to wait out the stormy seas or soak up some warm sun, depending on the weather.

If you’re lucky enough to see a seal on the beach in Maryland, it’s best to give the animal lots of space (at least 100 feet of distance) and stay downwind, if possible. By all means, enjoy watching the seals and take plenty of pictures, but please do not disturb them – they have had a long commute from the north.

Furthermore, disturbing the animal by making it change locations or flee back into the water is against the law. Seals are federally protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

A healthy, resting seal will typically be seen in a “banana position” on their side with their head or rear flippers in the air (see photo below). A seal that is entangled in marine debris or has physical wounds will often be resting flat on its stomach and may need medical attention.

If you see a seal that may be in need of medical attention, please call the National Aquarium’s Stranding Hotline at 410-373-0083, or the Natural Resources Police at 1-800-628-9944.

TODAY Show’s Erica Hill Visits National Aquarium, Baltimore!

National Aquarium, Baltimore recently had a very exciting guest, Erica Hill from NBC’s Today Show, join for a behind-the-scenes day  to help care for our animals and learn more about our Marine Animal Rescue Program!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF ERICA’S VISIT

To kick off her behind-the-scenes visit, Erica met with Poulpe, our giant Pacific octopus! She began by making and feeding the octopus some fish treats with our Aquarist, Morgan. Morgan then offered Erica the opportunity to touch Poulpe! Not expecting a tentacle handshake so early in the morning, Erica had to build up the courage to touch him. With Morgan’s reassurance and watchful eye, Erica let Poulpe stick to her! And now they can be best friends for life, right, Erica?

Poulpe saying hello to Erica!

Erica then moved on to our Dolphin Discovery exhibit to meet our Atlantic bottlenose dolphins! Here she learned about our daily husbandry exams from Allison, our manager of marine mammal training. In these daily exams, our staff checks the health of each of the eight dolphins. Erica learned the commands to get the dolphins to allow her examination of their dorsal fin and tail. She also got to have a little fun by participating a dolphin enrichment session!

Erica and the dolphins were fast friends!

After the excitement of bonding with Poulpe and the dolphins, it was onto Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes. Here, Erica helped our aviculturist, Mallorie, care for the many birds that call this immersive exhibit home, including Rosie our cockatoo! Erica helped our exhibit staff prep all kinds of bird food – from fresh fruit to live worms!

Erica assisting our staff with Rosie the cockatoo

After helping with the Australia birds, Erica also got to help our herpetologist, Kyle, with a stingray and barramundi feeding. During her feeding, she even shared some of her new animal knowledge with Aquarium guests! (We’re ready to hire you if you’re ever looking for work, Erica!)

Erica and Kyle explaining what stingrays eat

The second part of Erica’s day with us was spent at our off-site Animal Care Facility, where she met some of the turtle patients being cared for by our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) team. MARP team member, Amber, shared many stories from her amazing experience on the team rescuing and caring for seals and turtles.

Erica and Amber talking turtle resuces

One of Erica’s favorite turtles to meet was the young loggerhead turtle hatchling survivor that our team rescued shortly before Hurricane Sandy.

National Aquarium rescue turtle hatchling!

After spending the day with us, Erica’s biggest take way was this: “the National Aquarium’s goal is simple: educate and inspire conservation.”

From all of us here at National Aquarium, we would like to sincerely thank Erica and the Today Show team for visiting us! We hope to see you again soon!

Thoughtful Thursdays: Update on Rescued Sea Turtles

2013 is off to a busy start!

As we mentioned in a previous post, our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) is currently caring for seven patients in our Animal Care Center’s sea turtle rehab area. All of our patients have come from the New England Aquarium, where there has been a historic influx of cold-stunned turtles.

Their rescue team has been doing an amazing job responding and treating more than 200 turtles in just a few short months. Once some of their patients were deemed healthy enough for travel, they were transported to animal care institutions along the east coast for additional treatment and release.

Our Associate Veterinarian Kat Hadfield prepares for the ride back to Baltimore with one of our current patients! Photo via NEAQ

All seven of our patients (three Kemp’s ridleys, three green sea turtles and one loggerhead) are being treated for cold-stunning - a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged period of time.

Unfortunately, as water temperatures drop, it impairs a turtles’ ability to swim/dive normally. This puts them at a greater risk of being struck by things in the water, such as boat propellers. That was the case for our loggerhead patient, who also sustained multiple injuries, including one that required amputation of its right front flipper.

These deep cuts in the loggerhead’s carapace (shell) were likely done by a boat propeller.

We’re happy to report that this turtle is healing well on its own and is eating a lot (it is currently enjoying a well-rounded diet of crab, squid, shrimp and fish)!

Even with his injury, the loggerhead is swimming well and enjoys exploring his temporary home!

Due to his steady improvement and recovery, we hope to be able to release this turtle in the coming weeks. We will be tracking him via satellite to collect additional data to support our past research on how turtles with front flipper amputations survive in the wild.

To learn more about MARP and how you can help support our animal rescue efforts, visit aqua.org/MARP.

Want to get more behind-the-scenes access to what’s happening here at the Aquarium? Subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates on our animals, rescues/releases and the construction of our new exhibit, Blacktip Reef! 

Thoughtful Thursdays: MARP Turtle Update

This year, our friends at the New England Aquarium have received a record number of turtle patients to their Animal Care Center. After more than 160 severely cold stunned turtles came through their doors in the past month, they reached out to our Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) team for help in rehabilitating some of these turtles for release.

New England Aquarium’s Animal Care Center is filled to the brim with patients!
Photo via NEAQ

We currently have seven patients in our Animal Care Center’s turtle rehab area – three Kemp’s ridleys, three green sea turtles and one loggerhead.

One of our green sea turtle patients

All seven of our turtle patients are being treated for cold stunning – a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged period of time. In addition to cold stunning, two of the turtles have also presented common complications including pneumonia and unstable blood pH. Our team is working hard to treat these specific problems and the overall health of each turtle.

This Kemp’s ridley is used to its new surroundings in our turtle rehab area!

The loggerhead turtle was the first patient to arrive at our facility from New England. In addition to being cold stunned, this turtle had also suffered from a dramatic injury to its front-right flipper, sustained before the initial rescue. As a result, the flipper had to be amputated. Although we’re always saddened to see these types of severe injuries, this new patient is a great example of how far our animal rehabilitation efforts have come in recent years.

Our loggerhead patient is by far our largest!

As many may know, our beloved 400-pound green sea turtle, Calypso, originally came to National Aquarium as a rescue. Weighing just 6 pounds, this small turtle was cold stunned and had an infected left front flipper. The flipper was not treatable and was amputated. After the amputation, Calypso was deemed “non-releasable” by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Calypso, a beloved member of our Aquarium family, has grown to weigh more than 400 pounds!

In more recent years, research has shown that many turtles with natural front flipper amputations can survive in the wild. In fact, we were able to rehabilitate and release our first turtle with an amputation, lovingly referred to as “Ed,” in 2006. Our MARP team tracked Ed via satellite tag to ensure that he was doing well after release.

We’re happy to report that our loggerhead patient is doing so well that we have an exit exam scheduled in early January. If all goes well, the turtle will be transferred to North Carolina for release!

Stay tuned for more updates from our MARP team!