Truckin’ for Turtles
In case you haven’t thrown your cowboy hat in the ring, there’s still time. Here’s some info from the Oklahoma Aquarium:
Time is running out to have a big impact with a small donation to the Oklahoma Aquarium. The Truckin’ For Turtles Contest is entering its final 10 days with the drawing for prizes set for Labor Day, September 7th at 11:00. Truckin’ For Turtles Tickets are being sold online and at the Oklahoma Aquarium ticket office for $20 each or 6 for $100. All money raised will help build a public exhibit, for two giant sea turtles, currently behind the scenes at the Aquarium. Ticket holders go in the drawing for a new Ford Ranger SuperCab donated by Bill Knight Ford. Other prizes include a private sleepover in the Aquarium, a private tour to see the sea turtles up close at feeding time and tickets to the Aquarium.
The Oklahoma Aquarium has received a $500,000 challenge grant to build the $1.5 million sea turtle exhibit. The two, 200-pound Loggerhead Sea Turtles have been living behind-the-scenes, and waiting for a public exhibit since 2004. All sea turtles are either endangered or threatened, so it is the mission of the Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation, staff and volunteers to share these beautiful animals with visitors to foster greater appreciation and protection.
For more Truckin’ For Turtles details, including a special video of the sea turtles, please visit www.okaquarium.org.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
P.S. Here’s a look at the Oklahoma Aquarium exhibit:
Zoo looking for teen volunteers
The Oklahoma City Zoo is hosting an open house for its Junior Curator program.
The open house will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Rosser Conservation Education Center at the zoo.
The program is open to volunteers ages 14-18. Students work with animals, help at special events and assist with other work at the zoo. Each year, 35 Junior Curators are chosen, and they each volunteer 100 hours at the zoo. Applications will be available in the zoo guest relations office and online beginning May 15.
For more information, call 425-0275.
Below, check out a collection of Oklahoman photos of junior curators working at the Oklahoma City Zoo. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Freaky squid haunts the Gulf of Mexico
I found out some terrible news today: I’ll never be able to swim in the Gulf of Mexico again.
A Shell Oil Company underwater camera captured this Magnapinna squid near the seabed last year. As if the squid weren’t creepy enough on it’s own, it has elbows. Yes, elbows. Or at least the squid version of elbows.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Eight idle hands…
Staff at a German aquarium couldn’t figure out why the electricity kept getting shorted out. So they slept on the floor at night in shifts until they discovered the problem — Otto the Octopus.
Seems Otto didn’t like the spotlight above his aquarium. He figured out he could crawl to the edge of his enclosure and shoot out the light with a jet of water.
Problem was, when Otto shot out his light, it shorted the electricity to the whole aquarium, edangering the other creatures who lost water pumps and other electrical equipment that maintained their environment.
Staff raised the light up so Otto can no longer reach it, and they are trying to find ways to keep him occupied. Apparently Otto gets bored. He’s been known to chuck rocks that damage the glass in his aquarium and has even juggled some of the hermit crabs that share his tank.
If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, than Otto has four pair of devil’s workshops.
- Staff Writer Bryan Dean
Pets in the paper
- - Big cat injures sanctuary volunteer. (Broken Arrow)
- - Aquarium in Jenks displays fish fo the toothy variety.
- - A doggone wacky holiday in Norman.
- - Amid financial crisis, pets still faring well. (Nation-wide)
- - Disabled cat ready to get rolling in Norman.
- - Pet Tales: Goofy tale. (Oklahoma City)
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
High-def otter video on the way
The Oklahoma Aquarium has sent us a high-def version of the otter pup video, and we’ll be posting it here soon! Warning: the cuteness is even cuter in high-def.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Otter pup makes debut at Oklahoma Aquarium
As if you thought the world of baby animals couldn’t get any cuter, an otter pup was born at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks. The pup was born Sept. 26, but it recently began sticking its nose outside its den. Here’s a video and a couple pictures of the pup with its mom the aquarium folks provided us:
In the interest of ethics, we can’t disguise our love of otters here at Pet Show. The video of otters holding hand is probably our all time favorite.
Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
