Wednesday, July 1, 2009

#134: The fur seals' new home opens today!

Today the Aquarium's brand new New Balance Marine Mammal Center opens to the public! The seals are doing great in their new space and it will be fun to see their reaction to visitors coming to see them. Cordova, in particular, likes to follow people as they walk past the shallow wading pool. Here are some photos of the new space:





The new center has been getting a lot of attention in the press. The seals have been spreading the word all over TV and radio. We already posted a great video from NECN. Here's a clip from WBZ.com's Radiovision. This photo of Justin was in the Metro yesterday.

Plus, this story about the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center's fitness mission and the Move It! theme program appeared in the Associated Press and was picked up in many other sources. Come on down to the Aquarium and see the seals in their new space!

Here's a photo slide show of the new space!



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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

#133: Testing the Waters!

Yesterday Cordova and Ursula and J.D. arrived at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center! They'll acclimate to the new environment before the exhibit opens to the public on July 1.


Photo from the Boston Herald.

The arrival was a quite a news event. There was a photographer there from the Boston Herald and a news crew from NECN. Here's the story they put on the air. Just hit play and wait for the ad to finish to see the fur seals' new home!




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Monday, June 22, 2009

#132: Safety First

We have been extremely busy preparing the New Balance Marine Mammal Center for the arrival of the fur seals. Our design and construction team has been putting the finishing touches on the exhibit and we have been making sure that everything is ship shape. This includes diving in the new exhibit to scrub algae off the walls and vacuum up debris. Since it is still considered a construction site, we must wear the proper safety gear. Wearing the hard hat and day-glo vest was a bit awkward over my dive gear, but I think it really added something to the outfit.




Don't you think?

- Justin

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Friday, June 19, 2009

#131: The Wait Is Almost Over...

Ten months ago, we announced that our female fur seals would be moving to the New York Aquarium while we started building the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center. The wait is almost over, so while Rochelle is in New York learning all about JD, she is also getting a chance to see Ursula and Cordova.

I went down this past weekend and snapped this picture of the two fur girls during a training session (Ursula is on the left and Cordova is on the right with Rochelle). They are both doing great and we are even more excited for the opening of the exhibit on July 1st. And for those of you that had visited these girls, have no fear, Cordova is still as vocal as ever!

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

#130: Get Ready For JD!



With the opening of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center fast approaching I wanted to give everyone a quick introduction to one of our soon to be newest residents. JD - short for 'Jimmy's Daughter'- is a 19 year old female Northern Fur Seal. She will be coming to us from New York Aquarium and joining Ursula and Cordova in our exhibit to start. She has a vast knowledge of behaviors and is keeping me on my toes in hopes of learning all of them before the big move. Be on the lookout for the newest female in the group when we open in July.

-Rochelle

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

#129: Harbor Seal Puzzle

Amelia has always shown a lot of interest in a particular orange boomer ball toy that we stuff with fish. Now we have decided to take it one step further by making a puzzle for her. So she can learn how it works we started with an easy one.



We modified two clear, small animal exercise balls by drilling holes in them, then placed some capelin pieces in the big ball and gave it to the seals. Since it looked a little different from the original toy, it took Amelia a little bit to figure out what it was, but once she did she was really into it. And she wasn't the only one; Trumpet, Chuck, Cayenne, and Smoke all took turns. Now the next step is to start placing the fish inside the little ball and put that inside the big ball- then they will really have to move the toy to get the fish out.




-Erin

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

#128: Smoke Rorschach Test

The harbor seals are approaching the molting season when they will all get new coats of hair. At this time of year, many of the seals start to get a small accumulation of algae growing on their old coats. Our oldest seal Smoke tends to move a little slower than the other seals that live at the Aquarium, and it seems like algae tends to stick to her a bit more ... especially on her head.


To me the algae on her head looks like a bird. What do you think it looks like?



In July Smoke will molt and look good as new. Click here to see what Smoke looked like last year mid-molt. Here's what she looked like when she finished her molt last August. What a difference!


-Justin

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Monday, June 15, 2009

#127: What's Black and Grey and Read All Over?

Photo: Nicolaus Czarnecki/METRO

Smoke made the paper the other day! Her picture was featured in Boston's Metro newspaper in an article discussing affordable family outings. Click here for the article. What the Metro forgot to mention is that the Aquarium's harbor seal exhibit is FREE to the public. Talk about a bargain! Stop by the next time you're in the downtown area.

-Justin

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

#126: I'm Ready For My Close-Up!

With a face like this to greet you, how could you not enjoy going to work! I was playing around with the camera and Cayenne came over to check me out. I wonder what she was thinking then?


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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

#125: Waiting for Baranov ...

Erin checking out Baranov's chompers

The wait is almost over. We're all looking forward to the return of our fur seals and the opening of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center. The other day Erin and I took a trip down to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration to reconnect with our old buddy Baranov, a male fur seal that stayed with us for a few months last year. He will be moving back to Beantown later this summer to live in our new exhibit. Seeing him again made me even more excited ... I can't wait 'til July!

-Justin

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