The breeding ban may soon be reversed. Vancouver Aquarium breeding ban to be lifted say NPA commissioners - British Columbia - CBC News Also Chester is doing his part in the research department. Chester, the false killer whale, thrives at aquarium's rescue centre (with video)
Splendid, splendid. Hopefully Chester will grow up big and strong and not socially inept and the breeding ban will be history.
Not to come off as snobby, but I feel an obligatory I told you so is in order http://youtu.be/AesNL7ekHe4
Very cool! (in case you don't want to watch the video - Chester has been moved to the Vancouver Aquarium, but is in an off-display pool). They also answered a "when will he be released?" question on their facebook page with "we weill be discussing Chester's future next year."
The aquarium has had its 1 millionth visitor this year. Vancouver Aquarium welcomes its one millionth visitor for 2014 - Vancity Buzz
Vancouver Aquarium Review – November 2014 At the suggestion of Snow Leopard, a review of my visit to Vancouver Aquarium this November. First of all a big thank you to Snow Leopard for all his advice prior to the visit, we did try and arrange a meet but sadly it wasn’t to be. I have uploaded a few photos of my visit. As always, I have tried to limit the number of photos and not too cover stuff that is already well represented. Hence not many of enclosures or general aquarium lay-out, but if there is something that you are interested in and want to see a picture, please do ask. And yes, I know there were quite a few of the Beluga and Harbour Porpoise but I just couldn’t resist – two highly photogenic species. 2014 has been a ‘big aquarium’ sort of year for me – having also visited New York and Lisbon (and Malta’s new facility planned for xmas) – but Vancouver was my favourite by some distance. The aquarium itself is split into a number of areas or zones. The marine mammals (and penguins) are kept outside in a series of pools and tanks, many with indoor underwater viewing and satellite exhibits. The aquaria and vivaria holding fish, marine invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians are all inside the main building (with the exception of a trout exhibit). I choose to explore the outside areas first, so after the trout exhibit – (‘Headwaters’ housing Cutthroat Trout and Dolly Varden), it was straight on to ‘BC Wild Coast’. This area comprises a number of pools/ enclosures for Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Steller Sealion mixed with Harbour (Common) Seal, Harbour Porpoise and Northern Sea Otter. The dolphins (2 females) inhabit one large pool (which is also where the dolphin show takes place) connected to a second medium size pool and a small, shallow ‘contact’ pool. The pair have full access to all three areas and are viewed from a wooden boardwalk which dissects the larger pools. They can also be viewed underwater in the largest pool via some steps into an indoor area. This was the first time I had seen this species, so a particular favourite and I spent a lot of time watching and photographing the dolphins. On the other side of the boardwalk is a large rocky themed enclosure (although mostly pool/ water) housing 2 female Steller Sealions (sadly no male on display) mixed with a single Harbour Seal. Again, a first for me (the Sealions) and got some good pictures when they hauled out on their little pier. No underwater viewing is possible for this enclosure. I think the Sealions also used to be held in the enclosure now used for the Harbour Porpoise (which does have underwater viewing). At the end of the boardwalk is the smallest ‘observation’ pool for the dolphins and then you walk into a rocky themed area with the Harbour Porpoise enclosure to the left, and the Sea Otter enclosures to the right. As stated above, the porpoise are held in an enclosure designed for pinnipeds and so there is a large beach area (obviously not used by the porpoise) but the porpoise can be viewed really well from above. I was also lucky enough to be there when the pair were fed, which helped viewing. I was totally enamoured with these little cetaceans (another first for me). Very common in the wild but very rarely seen in captivity. I spent a good 30 minutes watching them and came back to see them again on a number of occasions. The Sea Otters are kept in two separate (quite small relative to other places I have seen this species). Two females are held together in one pool which can be viewed from above and through glass, while the male was held separately and can only be viewed through glass, although underwater viewing is also possible in this enclosure. Until this year, I had seen Sea Otter only once (Antwerp in the late 90s), but by twists of fate, luck and design I have been lucky enough to see them three times this year (New York, Lisbon, Vancouver). From here, I progressed on to ‘Canada’s Arctic’, which is essentially a very large pool for a pair of female Beluga, with rocky backdrops, plus a small connected ‘observation’ pool. I had seen Beluga once before (Valencia a couple of years ago) but the set-up here is vastly superior. The outside pool (lacking at Valencia) provides excellent views of the whales as they break the surface and come around to the front viewing window. A Beluga ‘show’ also takes place here a few times a day which provides even better views of the animals. Before venturing into the indoor section of ‘Canada’s Arctic’, I retraced my steps to see the penguin exhibit which is situated sort of behind the Harbour Porpoise enclosure. This holds a small group of African Penguins. The enclosure is quite small with a large rocky backdrop and rocky land portion, with a small pool (glass fronted, with underwater viewing) at the front. Given the quality of the other outdoor exhibits at Vancouver I found this enclosure a little lacking and almost squished in to the available outdoor space. It seemed a bit of an afterthought and possibly is a fairly recent construction which attempts to use the space available. After the penguins, I went downstairs into the indoor part of ‘Canada’s Arctic’. Here the Beluga can be viewed underwater via two very large viewing windows. The Harbour Porpoise underwater viewing is also at the entrance to this area. As well as the underwater viewing for the cetaceans, there are a number of (very!) cold water aquatic exhibits for Arctic fish and invertebrates. Lots of interesting firsts for the aquatic ecologist (i.e. me!) here including Arctic Sculpin, Fish Doctor, Greenland Shrimp, Sculptured Shrimp, Giant Arctic Isopod, Giant Black Sea Cucumber, Arctic Skeleton Shrimp, Polar Shrimp, Sea Spider, Hedgehog Amphipod and Bladed Shrimp. So, onto the main indoor elements of the aquarium. I headed left from Heck Connection Gallery (upstairs) and into ‘Treasures of the BC Coast’, and what an absolute treasure this array of exhibits is. I was blown away by the attention to detail in this section. The path winds path a series of large aquaria, each with smaller satellite aquaria – and each focusses on fauna found a very specific part of the British Columbia coast. The delight (despite some minor repetition in species) is that each individual aquaria shows just what lives in that area, so no ‘Canadian tank’ or even ‘BC tank’, but separate tanks for Banks Island, Burnaby Narrows, Bella Bella, Quadro Island, Port Hardy, Clayoquot Sound, Long Beach, Barkley Sound, Botanical Beach, Jervis Inlet, Sechelt Inlet, Defence Islands and Whytecliffe Park. Every aquarium is well furnished and highly authentic in appearance. Almost every species exhibited in this area was a first for me and far too many to mention all – but included Sailfin Sculpin, Silver spotted Sculpin, Rock Greenling, Black Rockfish, China Rockfish, Canary Rockfish, Vermillion Rockfish, White Sturgeon, various Surfperch, Giant Wrymouth, Tiger Rockfish, Red Irish Lord, Tubesnout, Spotted Ratfish and Giant Pacific Octopus. Labelling here (and in the whole aquarium) is also excellent with almost all species labelled present and visa versa (and no annoying ‘interactive’ labelling!!). From ‘Treasures of the BC Coast’ I moved on to the ‘Exploration Gallery’, which features a number of centrally placed circular tanks as well as some large aquaria around the walls. There are large tanks for jellyfish (Japanese Sea Nettle and Fried Egg Jellyfish), Electric Eel, vivaria for Boa Constrictor and poison dart frogs (Mimic and Three-striped) and an Indo-pacific coral reef tank (a mixture of fairly common aquaria species with one or two ‘nice to sees’ including Indian Triggerfish and Redtail Butterflyfish), and a window into the Aquarium’s ‘Wet Lab’ via another pacific coldwater tank. Tracing back through ‘Treasures of the BC Coast’ I then headed left into ‘The Tropics’. This area features a range of warmwater aquaria featuring the more traditional fare seen in aquariums the world over (mostly coral reef fish ad invertebrates), but again many highlights including more jellyfish (this time Spotted and Edible species), Dwarf Cuttlefish, and Splendid and Spotted Garden Eel. There is also a large ‘oceanic’ tank in this section featuring some smaller sharks (Black-tipped Reef Shark, Zebra Shark and Whitespotted Bamboo Shark) and an adult Green Sea Turtle. The next area of living exhibits is the ‘Amazon Gallery’ which includes a range of rainforest species, often mixed together in combined aquaria/ vivaria. The entrance area features a nice shallow water exhibit for Slender Mudskipper (another first for me I think), before progressing through more traditional Amazon and Indonesian rainforest-themed enclosures (Pacu, other larger Amazon freshwater fish, Red-bellied Piranha, Pig-nosed Turtle, etc). After these, there is a sort of atrium featuring an enclosure for Yacare Caiman mixed with smaller South American freshwater fish (Silver Dollar, Leporinus – 2 species each) and a dark alcove housing a bat exhibit (species unlabelled and hard to identify in the dark, possibly Seba’s Short-tailed Bat). The bat exhibit is by far the worst part of this facility and is, in my opinion, quite unnecessary. It seems very much like some sort of add on and the bats are poorly presented and difficult to view. From this atrium, I progressed to an open rainforest area with wooden boardwalk. Again, this is quite a common feature of many a zoo or aquaria. Here it is quite small but well planted and features free-flying Blue-fronted Amazon, Scarlet Ibis, Ringed Teal and Hyacinth Macaw. There are also pools housing freshwater fish (including Spotted Stringray) that can be viewed from the boardwalk. Leading off from the main rainforest area is a series of glass-fronted aquaria/ enclosures housing a number of reptiles and amphibians and also a small group of Goeldi’s Monkey. Highlights in this area were Diving Lizard (mixed with Green Anaconda and another first for me) and Bumblebee Toad. Exiting through the rainforest gallery is a final aquarium featuring cichlids and Tiger Stringray. Downstairs from the main exhibit areas can be found ‘Frogs Forever’ and a changing exhibits area (closed on my visit). ‘Frogs Forever’ is (predictably) a range of vivaria for amphibia, but rather nicely done with large spacious enclosures and a wide range of less often seen species. My favourites here were Golden Poison Frog, Hong Kong Warty Newt, Rio Cauca Caecilian, Mitchell’s Reed Frog, Smoky Jungle Frog, Oregon Spotted Frog, and Roughskin Newt. And that was pretty much it (although I, of course, went around all these areas numerous times). I thoroughly enjoyed my day, and consider Vancouver to be one of the best Aquariums I have visited. It is worth saying that if you visit the aquarium in Vancouver, you should also make the effort to see (at least some of) Stanley Park. I walked the entire perimeter (3ish hours) and spent another half day in the forest and around Beaver Lake. I saw wild River Otter, Douglas and black Grey Squirrel and numerous birds (many of which were lifetime firsts and most of which you will not see in any zoo).
@Newzooboy: thanks for posting your comprehensive review and it was too bad that we couldn't arrange a meeting. So close yet so far! Here are a few of my comments: - the pool that houses the Harbour Porpoises has at one time or another in the past couple of years held Steller's Sea Lions, Harbour Seals and/or Northern Fur Seals. - I agree that the penguin exhibit is very small and the birds hardly ever go in the water. The exhibit is supposedly temporary and the aquarium has ambitious plans to revamp the entire outdoor section (including all the various pools) during the next 3-4 years. - I'm surprised that you loved Treasures of the BC Coast, but perhaps I just take that gallery for granted as it showcases only local species. - Frogs Forever is well-liked by all and there are more than 20 amphibian species in that zone. - the bat exhibit is brand-new and part of this year's $45 million expansion. - the large Amazon tank (with Pacu and other giant fish) used to have 3 enormous Arapaima but for whatever reason there are none left now.
Thanks for the feedback SL......... I suspect the Harbour Porpoise are now going to be in that exhibit permanently (or at least until the outdoor area revamp). I couldn't see where else they might be held. There were no Northern Fur Seals on my visit - that would have been very nice indeed. Do they ever hold male Stellers Sealions? Yes, penguin exhibit is a bit poor, but I guess penguins are always a big draw with the general public. I thought Treasure of the BC coast was exceptional, although I understand what you mean by local species in your local zoo/ aquarium. I never spend much time looking at British fish in UK aquariums. But what I love about such exhibits is that you will always see species not seen elsewhere, and in this case, it is very well done. How easy would it have been to have a 'BC tank' or 'Canada tank' rather than the specific locations of the BC coast. I'm surprised the bat exhibit is new......I think it really needs a bit of a rethink. The average visitor time watching the bats when I was there was about 10 seconds.
