Sea Notes

Our Penguin Chick Goes Behind the Scenes

The first blackfooted penguin chick ever to be born on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is going to grooming school.  After a very successful three weeks on exhibit, the chick went behind the scenes January 29 for its own safety, and to acclimate to people.

 “The parents Umngane and Dassen have done a great job feeding and caring for the chick,” says Aimee Greenebaum, associate curator of aviculture. Since January 10, the chick has gone from 4 to almost 40 ounces.

Despite the parents’ doting, things were no longer safe for the chick on exhibit. “A young chick can’t swim, and it might fall in the water and be unable to get out,” says Aimee. “And as it starts to wander, other birds might become aggressive toward it. They tend to be very curious, and they can investigate by biting.”

There’s another important reason that the chick was separated from its parents and moved  off exhibit:  under the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Species Survival Plan, the chick has been designated as an “education bird,” to help raise awareness of the threats penguins face in the wild. As such, it needs to be comfortable around people and on exhibit.

 “It needs to get used to being handled,” says Aimee. “To accomplish that, we need to be the ones feeding and caring for the chick—and the parents just won’t let us do that.”

The parents and chick had to be separated but “they get over it quickly,” says Aimee. “It’s out of sight, out of mind. Parents frequently lose chicks in the wild, and they’re genetically wired to move on.”

Life Behind the Scenes

The first order of business behind the scenes: get the chick accustomed to solid food (fish), instead of the regurgitated meals served up by Umngane and Dassen. “The transition to solid food takes a while,” says Aimee.

The aviculture team will feed the chick three to four times per day. They’ll also keep it very warm, in a small enclosure. “As it continues to grow, we’ll put it in a larger and larger holding area, and let it get used to the ambient temperature,” says Aimee. “We’ll also expose it to shallow water, so it can learn to swim.  We want to ensure it can get in and out easily.

“Eventually we’ll spend more and more time with the chick, and start to touch and pick it up. We anticipate it will get very comfortable with us quite quickly.”

The Transition Back on Exhibit

At about 80 days (late March or early April) the chick will lose its downy feathers and have grown a waterproof coat.  This is also the normal age for a chick to fledge (leave the nest without its parents). At this point, the chick will be gradually re-introduced to the exhibit.

“We’ll watch to ensure it’s not being picked on, and that it can safely swim and navigate the exhibit,” says Aimee. “This will happen under constant supervision.”

Although it will be a while until you can see the chick on exhibit again, we’ll be sure to keep you updated with photos and videos from behind the scenes.

“We’re really excited,” says Aimee. “We’ve enjoyed seeing the chick grow up—it’s changed dramatically every day, and it’s very cute. And of course, we appreciate the opportunity this bird is giving us. Everyone loves babies, and our hope is that it will inspire people to help penguins in the wild.”

The Miracle of Ocean Animals

By Jim Covel, senior manager of guest experience

It’s easy to get caught up in all the issues, challenges, demands and other details that complicate our daily lives.  And then every so often something happens that snaps you back to the larger perspective, the more important things in life.  One of those restorative events occurred for me recently.  I was called to the Information Desk to speak with a guest.  Sometimes that means a guest with a concern, sometimes a fun question about the ocean.  However, I wasn’t prepared for this encounter.

I met the guest, introduced myself, shook hands and then she said, “I have something I’d like to share with you.”  She was a career recreation professional, having devoted the past 35 years to serving inner-city youth; the kind of giving, caring person who keeps life meaningful for young people who may not have access to many opportunities.  That was obviously her personal life philosophy as well, as she began to tell me about a special-needs child she adopted over 20 years ago.

Her adopted son had significant developmental disabilities.  As he grew from infant to toddler to preschooler, he had difficulty responding to any kind of stimulus presented by his mother.  However, that didn’t deter her efforts. She talked to him, played with him, took him places and exposed him to a variety of important experiences.  Soon he was five years old, and had never spoken a single word.

Then came their first visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  The sea otters are always a big hit with our guests, and so it was for this mother and son.  When they came to the otter exhibit, a miracle of sorts happened:  The boy walked up to the widow, pointed at one of our sea otters and said, “Meow?”

“That was the first word my son had ever spoken!” she exclaimed.  (She paused her story here for a moment as she raised a finger to catch a tear on her cheek, and regained her composure.)  She knew at that point that all those years of nurturing her son were, indeed, worthwhile -- that perhaps things might work out after all.  It was a huge breakthrough for her son, and a relief for a mother who worried about him every day. 

Today her son is 22 years old, high functioning—and still a huge fan of sea otters and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There is no doubt that animals have a special way of connecting with us, and vice-versa.  Studies of Animal Assisted Therapy have proven the value of domestic animals in overcoming communication barriers—particularly with younger patients.

The sea otters certainly had a place in that boy’s heart, which triggered something new in his mind. As far as his mother was concerned, this was nothing less than a miracle.  But the real miracle was in the heart of this lady who adopted a special child, and had the enduring faith that a mother’s abiding love could overcome any disadvantage. 

Best of the Blog: Top 10

A lot of folks have been checking out the latest news about our two new penguin chicks. And why not? They're incredibly cute (the penguins, not the blog entries -- though the stories do feature great photos of the two tiny birds on exhibit).

The story of the first penguin will be one of our most popular blog entries for all of 2011 -- and we're barely halfway through January.

If you're a fan of great white sharks, sea otter pups, ocean-friendly seafood -- and immortal jellyfish --  you won't want to miss some older blog entries that were the most popular stories last year. (Let us know if you like them half as much as you do the penguin chicks.) Here are your Top 10 favorites from 2010:

No. 1: Can a jellyfish live forever? Researchers believe they've found an Immortal Jellyfish, and we provide the details.

No. 2: There's a "Baby Otter on Board" at the Monterey Bay Aquarium -- the first sea otter pup we've ever put on exhibit. 

No. 3: Babies are popular, including the second baby sea otter ever to go on exhibit.

No. 4: There's more to a can of tuna than meets the eye, and Seafood Watch provides the lowdown on how to guarantee yourself a sustainable tuna sandwich.

No. 5: In "Whither the White Shark?", we share the sad fate of a young great white shark we released from our Outer Bay exhibit a few months earlier.

No. 6: Some people get hot under the collar when talking about climate change, but that hasn't stopped us from encouraging "A Spirited Climate Conversation" in "Hot Pink Flamingos" -- an exhibit with plenty of very cool animals.

No. 7: We celebrate a partnership with Whole Foods Market to label wild-caught seafood in the case to help consumers make ocean-friendly choices.

No. 8: Julie Packard cheers "A Great Day for the Oceans" and talks about progress on a national ocean policy as well as federal legislation to give real protection to our living ocean.

No. 9: Yes, sea otter pups and penguin chicks are cute all right. But can anything top a little ocean sunfish?

No. 10: In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, Julie Packard issues a challenge and a call to action on World Oceans Day.

Our Second Penguin Chick!

Thanks to everyone who has been following developments with our first-ever penguin chicks. We regret to announce that the second chick died January 18. We’re still working to determine the cause. Fortunately you can still see the first chick and its parents in our Splash Zone exhibit.

On Saturday January 8, our aquarists were delighted to discover that a blackfooted penguin chick had hatched on exhibit for the first time ever. Two days later, during a feeding, staff heard chirping—“but it wasn’t coming from the right direction,” says Associate Curator of Aviculture Aimee Greenebaum.

The source of the happy sounds? A second chick, from an egg being incubated by foster parents in another part of the Splash Zone exhibit, had pecked a hole in its shell. By Tuesday afternoon, it had emerged and was “sitting in half a shell, using it as a comfy chair,” says Aimee.

Make that two baby penguins on exhibit!

Foster Parents
The “birth” parents for both chicks are Dassen and Umngane, who are now rearing the first youngster in the middle of the exhibit. To help give the second egg a better chance of hatching and the chick a better chance of survival, it was given to another pair, Tranya and Molopo.

“Giving the second egg to foster parents increases the chance of success by reducing the workload,” says Aimee. “It’s easier to raise just one.” (The foster parenting process is standard procedure among member institutions of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, especially with endangered or threatened animals that are part of a Species Survival Plan.) The adoptive parents, Tranya and Molopo, were selected in advance based on observations of their parenting instincts. In fact, the pair had already spent a week looking after a fake egg in preparation for the big event.

“They figured the fake egg was real thing, and we just switched it with the real one,” says Aimee.

What to Look For
Both pairs of parents, and their chicks, are happily ensconced in small caves on exhibit.  Tranya and Molopo are near the bubble window, and Dassen and Umngane are in the middle of the exhibit. You can tell the males (Tranya and Dassen) by their bands, which are white with black letters. The females (Molopo and Umngane) have black bands with white letters.

Aimee cautions that the chicks “will be very difficult to see—the parents sit very tightly with their offspring.” (There is a "nest cam" and viewing monitor to provide visitors with a better view of one of the nests [not a web cam].)

One behavior to look for: when the parents feed their chicks, they shake their heads, open their beaks wide, and the chicks sticks their heads inside for a delicious meal of regurgitated fish.

Future Developments
“The next few weeks will be a lot of work,” says Aimee. Staff need to feed the parents five times their normal diet to keep their energy stores up and ensure that they have enough surplus food to give their chicks. 

Once the chicks are up and walking, they’ll be moved behind the scenes and raised by hand to ensure their safety and survival. It’s important that they don’t fall into the water or get roughed up by older penguins on exhibit. Once the chicks fledge and grow juvenile plumage, at about 80 days, they’ll be re-introduced to the exhibit. At that point their feathers will be waterproof and they’ll be able to swim and walk about with confidence.

“The introduction back on exhibit will be slow,” predicts Aimee. “We want to be sure they’re comfortable getting in and out of the water, that other penguins aren’t picking on them, and that they’re comfortable around people.

“We’re very excited—they’re very cute chicks. There’s a lot that could happen so we’re taking it day by day, but the parents so far have been great and everyone is healthy.”

 

Rockfish Mystery Solved

  

Could these be the same species? Our aquarists were overjoyed when a fisherman donated this beautiful orange colored rockfish to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (left). But they were also puzzled, because it had characteristics of two species. Taking a chapter from CSI, they sent a fin clipping for DNA analysis. The answer: it’s a black-and-yellow rockfish—the same species shown at right. To our knowledge no one has ever seen an “orange morph” of this species—a rare find, and you can view it in the Kelp Holdfast gallery in the Splash Zone!

Our First Penguin Chick!

 
In a nest, high up in the penguin condos in our Splash Zone exhibit, African blackfooted penguins, Umngane and Dassen have been keeping a secret; they were guarding an egg! Although our staff believed the egg to be viable, we were not entirely sure until the egg had "pipped". (That's when an egg is first cracked by a chick at hatching time, as it starts to make its way out into the world.)

On Saturday, January 8, the young chick finally emerged from the shell, much to the delight of us all, and perhaps to the surprise of first-time parents!

The new chick was first checked and weighed by staff veterinarian, Dr. Mike Murray and then returned to its proud parents for care and feeding. A second exam two days later revealed the chick had doubled in weight, (4.2 ounces) which is a great sign that the parents are feeding it regularly.

 

This is very early days for such a young chick with new parents. There's a natural high mortality rate for young birds, making our staff cautious and yet optimistic!

If all goes well, the chick will stay in the nest with its parents for around three weeks. After that time, it will try to leave the nest and at that point, for its own safety, it will be removed from the exhibit to be raised by staff.

This will also give us an excellent opportunity to acclimate the chick to people. This way, in the future, it will be able to act as an education animal, interacting with the public, either here or at another zoo or aquarium in the future.

Once the chick reaches about 80 days of age it will be old enough to try some short stays back on the exhibit. Our staff will want to ensure that it can swim, get in and out of the water safely and will be welcomed by the other members of the colony before it becomes a full-time resident.

At some point, a blood test should reveal if we have a girl or a boy. Unlike many song bird species, penguin gender cannot be differentiated by color or size and only a blood test will reveal this. The name, possibly, will follow the convention of our current colony, with birds named after a region in South Africa, their native home.

Though many of our penguin pairs have made nests before and sat on eggs (replicas), this is the first time the Aquarium has been permitted to raise penguin chicks. Our birds are part of Species Survival Plan for African blackfooted penguins. This pair are genetically important to the captive population and therefore we received permission for them to breed from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums who manages the plan.

We will keep you up-to-date with further progress of this exciting news, both here on the blog, and on Facebook.  

Uncommon Murres

For visitors to the Monterey Bay Habitats exhibit, our common murres are anything but common. These birds are often mistaken for penguins as they “fly” fearlessly underwater past fishes that are five times their size.

But despite their speedy ways, many of our murres are more than 20 years old. Most were deemed non-releasable after being rescued from the 1986 Apex Houston oil spill near Long Beach, California. In late December, an opportunity arose to exhibit some new murres in a unique exchange with the Montréal Biodôme in Canada.

Two of our birds were sent to the Biodôme in early December. In return, the Biodôme sent seven captive-born murres to the Aquarium. Then, on December 29, all 11—seven newcomers and four existing birds—went on exhibit, the most murres that we’ve ever displayed.

Breeding Opportunity

One reason that the Aquarium participated in the exchange was to allow its wild-born birds to have chicks. “We’re not set up to breed,” says Aimee Greenebaum, associate curator of aviculture, “but I always wanted to send them somewhere that was.” The birds sent here from the Biodôme, in contrast, are captive born, and not of interest as breeding stock.

Fortunately, they make very lively and entertaining exhibit birds. The newcomers include four females:  Kiwi, Plum, Shrimp and Ruby; and three males: Pepper, Pickles and Tomato. They’re named according to their band colors.

Aviculturist Mika Yoshida says it was “exciting to get the new birds” because of their youth and energy. She says they’re “huge eaters” and are hand-fed silversides and capelin twice per day, including special vitamins. Feeding sessions also present great opportunities for enrichments. Food might be hidden in ice, or covered with shells or rocks, as a challenge.

Mika expects they’ll get along well with other animals on exhibit. “They’re used to huge colonies, so they should integrate really well. We want them to be as unafraid as possible. Pickles is already showing a comfort level with us, and we hope to encourage this with all the birds.”

Cliff Divers

Murres can often be seen on rock outcroppings on the Central Coast and in Big Sur, where they live to be 40 years old, and return annually to the same colony. They follow their food out on the open seas, and spend a lot of time on the water. Common murres are “pursuit divers,” which means they forage for food by swimming underwater using their wings for propulsion. Dives usually last less than a minute, but they can swim underwater for distances of 160 feet (depths of 600 feet have been recorded).  When young common murres are ready to fledge, they make one hopeful jump off a cliff and into the air—a most uncommon approach.

Unfortunately, murres are heavily impacted during oil spills. “I’m hoping the more people learn about them and appreciate them, the more action they’ll take to decrease the chance of oil spills,” says Aimee.

 “These birds live right outside our back door but because they spend most of their lives out in the ocean, most people don’t get a chance to see them up close. Our exhibit provides visitors a unique opportunity to see these beautiful birds doing what they do best:  diving!”