Sea Life Centre to open world-class marine rescue facility next month - Birmingham Updates This is quite exciting, both for Sea Life and for the country. I’m assuming from the wording that it won’t just be seals.
Just imagine the potential if the SeaLife chain had a site in the far north - where the likelihood for cetacean and pinniped rescue situations is somewhat higher than in the Midlands - with plenty of space for expansion, and promoted it properly to both the local community and the tourist industry..... Oh, wait
It's been many years since I visited the 'National Sea Life Centre' but its site is so small that I don't think there will be room for anything bigger than seal pups, if the facility is to approach world-class (sic). Perhaps this thread belongs in Stupidest Exhibit Ideas Ever.
The concept art looks to have a certain theming - looks more like Canadian Great Lakes than anything else (plus what could be interpreted as a kelp forest theme). Bearing in mind the available space, I wonder if the 'rescue' part is more of a gloss and they might be getting sea otters?
That would be exciting but rather annoying if the rescue part is a ruse. As far as the space, it’s apparently over two floors and taking quite a bit of room so it might be bigger than people expect. Not humpback whale big, but I’m hoping that it has the capability for a porpoise or two to be kept temporarily.
The article is phrased really ambiguously, and the concept art certainly doesn't lend itself to being about stranded cetaceans. The centre closed for a short period late last year for major structural work for the new exhibit, and the news articles of the time (e.g. Sea Life Centre is closing for a major redevelopment) said that the new inhabitants would be "new creatures never seen before in the UK".
I think you're probably right, I can't think of anything else it could be! Also explains why the 'rescue facility' is not on the coast, if it was for native marine mammals Birmingham would be a ridiculous choice for this!
I was hoping it was a central location to be just as close to all coasts, but it’s looking less likely.
From their website (https://www.visitsealife.com/birmingham/discover/rescue-facility/): "This is a world class rescue facility and a large team of specialists were needed to help support the entire project. 72,000 liters of water was needed to fill the tank Over 2,100 man hours have gone in to creating the new facility to date 8 meters of steel was hoisted into the facility directly from outside It took 7 days to drill the hole for the new tank A team of builders have been on site 7 days a week/15 hours a day 3 design teams worked on all aspects of the facility including theming and graphics 8km of cabling and 1.5 miles of pipework has been fed through the entire facility The project will be completed ahead of the Easter holidays The facility is yet to take on new creatures but talks are underway confirming the first resident that will call this centre home."
European beaver could be another possibility. However, these have been kept by several UK collections (even just a few miles away at Birmingham Nature Centre in the past) so obviously wouldn't fit the "new creatures never seen before in the UK" statement. Does anyone know if SEA LIFE Birmingham still have the ASCOs? If they've gone recently then it would make sea otters more likely as I imagine they wouldn't want to exhibit 2 species of otter in such a small building.
Don't Sea Otters swim long distances ? and therefore an indoor exhibit with limited swimming opportunity not ideal ? Given the tropical routes that Sea Life Centre's have gone down recently, could it not be Neotropical Otters ?
The snowy mountains and coniferous forests shown in the artist's impression would suggest otherwise, however such images can never be fully relied upon as being 100% accurate.
I don’t think that Neotropical otters or European beavers would be counted as marine mammals. On the otter angle, there is currently no mention of the short claws on the website so presumably gone. It also appears that the three European holders of Sea Otters have all named their exhibits as rescues and as a result have imported pups from Alaska Sealife over the last few years who were rescued in Alaska and for who there are no spaces in North America.
The curators & collections managers (heads of mammals) at Paignton/L Coasts I've spoken to over the years have said it's impossible to import sea otters from the US & Japan. How can Birmingham trump Living Coasts on this front?
I believe Living Coasts tried to get them quite a few years ago, from the research I’ve done today it seems that Alaska Sealife only started exporting their pups after a baby boom in the 2016 season that meant they exhausted all possible homes in North America. I’m not sure if Living Coasts have tried to get hold since then.
It's a pity that they can't spell litre or metre. The pool volume converts to 72 cubic metres, <16000 Imperial gallons or ~19000 US gallons. The EAZA best practice guidelines for pinnipeds give the minimum pool size for 1 to 6 ringed seals (the smallest species) as 153 cubic metres. There are no EAZA guidelines for sea otters and an AZA Animal Care manual is in preparation. A quick search on Google came up with a document from 2013 listing some some pool sizes for sea otters in the USA, the smallest is 34000 US gallons for 4 animals at Minnesota Zoo (although the USDA legal minimum is much smaller). So this mystery marine mammal, which has never been seen in the UK before, can be kept in a world class facility with a relatively modestly sized pool. The answer is obvious - marine otter I wish I believed this answer
