Aquarium aims for new education space

01.01.70

Calling it the “last big piece” to complete the vision for the Great Lakes Aquarium, Executive Director Jack LaVoy barely contained his excitement in announcing a kick-start to the funding for a new education space dubbed the Exploratorium.

Minnesota Power officials presented LaVoy a check for $25,000 on the second floor of the 13-year-old aquarium, where the former kitchen and café space will be converted into three classrooms and a resource center for educators. The space is empty now.

“It’s a huge, giant step forward,” LaVoy said. Minnesota Power has pledged to match up to $125,000 in aquarium-generated funding in the next year for the $265,000 conversion.

LaVoy said a three-year push to raise the rest of the money looks promising for a project he would like to see started in 2014.

Source: Duluth News Tribune

Florida Aquarium adds invasive pythons to wetlands exhibit

01.01.70

If you're going to accurately represent Florida wildlife in 2013, you can't forget about the giant snakes.

That's why the Florida Aquarium has added a pair of 14-foot-long Burmese pythons to its revamped wetlands exhibit, which opened to the public today.

The snakes are housed alongside the aquarium's gators, otters, free-flying birds and other native Florida wildlife in the newly renamed Florida Wetlands Trail, developed through a partnership with the Florida Park Service.

The aquarium hopes the pythons will raise awareness about the invasive species, which is native to South Asia, and has been wreaking havoc on South Florida's ecosystem for several years. The population of invasive pythons in the Everglades is approaching an estimated 150,000 snakes.

Source: Tbo.com

Oregon Coast Aquarium sea otter that made medical history dies in Newport

01.01.70

Fourteen-year-old Aialik, a northern sea otter, was euthanized Wednesday morning after his health began deteriorating and he quit eating, said Lance Beck, spokesman at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Aialik suffered from a failing urinary tract for most of his life. In 2011, Drs. Steven Brown and Bernard Sequin performed the first ever bladder marsupialization – a surgery in which an artificial opening was created allowing the bladder to function and drain.

"The surgery bought him more than two additional years of not having any issues where he could survive and not be in pain and really appear to be normal unless you know where to look and could see the stoma," Beck said.

Source: OregonLive.com