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 Jeff (foreground) and Jiles & Amanda (near the
sculpture) at the entrance to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center. |
 The
Beluga Whale Habitat. The Vancouver Aquarium is one of only nine institutions
world-wide that houses Beluga
whales. |
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 Full
body Beluga... |
 Beluga
giving us a "wave" |
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 The
Beluga Whale Habitat can also be viewed through underwater
windows. |
 A fish in the tank that I dropped my lens cap in
during the Trainer Tour. Ooops! Thankfully, I was able to recover it without
any problems. |
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 Octopus... it's what for
lunch... for Milo, the sea
otter! Jiles is holding up one of the innumerable octopus we fed to Milo during our
Trainer Tour. Fortunately, they're not slimy... kind of rubbery actually. |
 Milo
is one of the Northern sea otters at the Aquarium. He was born in August
1999 and weighs 33.6 kg. His daily diet is 7 kg of fish fillets, crab,
squid and clams... and octopus "treats". J |
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 Isn't
Milo cute? He's waiting for us to drop another octopus onto his belly. |
 Milo
taking a nap. |
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 Nyac
taking a nap. She's the only female sea otter at the Aquarium. She's easy to
pick out from the lighter fur on her head. Nyac was born in 1989. She
weighs 27.6 kg, and eats 5-7 kg of fish fillets, crab, squid and clams. |
 Elfin, the other male otter living at the
Aquarium, and Nyac playing. They can't put the two males together
because they will fight thus Nyac takes turns staying with each one. Elfin,
born in 2000, is the youngest sea otter living at the Aquarium. He
weighs 18.8 kg and eats 5 kg of fish fillets, crabs, squid and clams. |
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 A
Tiger
Longwing in the Butterfly
Encounter in the Amazon
Gallery, a re-creation of South America’s tropical rainforest. |
 Another
Tiger Longwing butterfly. Longwing butterflies have very elongated wings
and are slow fliers. Since the larvae feed on passionflower vines, which
are poisonous, the adults are also unpalatable and advertise this with
warning colors. Warning colors include combinations of red, orange,
yellow, and white with black or brown. Most unpalatable butterflies make
themselves obvious to would-be predators by flying slow and landing frequently
in the open. |
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 An
Owl Butterfly in the Butterfly
Encounter. On the underside of an Owl butterfly are large
"eye-spots." When the butterfly spreads its wings, the two
eyes look like an owl's face. Little birds that eat butterflies get
eaten by owls, so they fly away from the scary butterfly. When they open
their wings, some Owl butterflies are brown in color and some are blue. |
 A
Doris
Longwing butterfly perched on top of the leaf and the wings of a giant Owl butterfly underneath
the leaf. Giant Owl butterflies have a wingspan of
about eight inches (20 cm). |
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 This
is another Doris Longwing. This type of butterfly has 3 major color forms. This
one lacks the red color of the one immediately above. |
 I
think this may also be a Doris Longwing but I'm
not a butterfly expert. If you know what any of these butterflies are, please send
me an email. |
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 The
Moon Jellyfish
tank in the Treasures of the B.C. Coast exhibit. Moon jellies have a
transparent, white bell rimmed with hundreds of short tentacles. They
range from the Arctic to Florida and from Alaska to southern California. |
 Exhibit
containing fish and invertebrates
from Bella Bella, British Columbia, a town on the Inside Passage between
Prince Rupert and Port Hardy. |
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 Jiles,
Grisel and Jeff at the Aquarium. |
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