Animal Keeper Campers have Arrived!

The theme of this weeks summer camp is 'Animal Keepers' where the campers get to explore what it is like to take care of the animals at the Aquarium. This is what they had to say after their first day of camp:

Courtney, " Today we went to the stingray tank. We fed all of the stingrays. I learned that cownose rays have a slow digestive system. They have to feed them by hand. If they don't and they just throw them in the tank the other stingrays will eat it all before the cownose rays can have seconds."

Jonathan, "Today at the Aquarium we got to go behind the scences and see baby quails! We cleaned up there poo, it was not messy. We also got to pet a quail! The young cardinal was very cute! We saw two ducks in the duck cage that I did not know existed!"

Erin, "Today I learned about how different sharks eat when my group fed the sharks behind the scences. Sand tigers eat slow and sandbars eat fast and agressive. Sandbar shark's food can't be thrown in or they will get to agressive."

Kylee, "Today I got to clean and touch quails! I learned that one of the alligators has eggs in her. But they don't know if they were fertilized. It was so cool!"

Kailey, "Today in Aquarium camp our group learned how to clean a quail's cage. The leader took a quail out of its cage and every person touched the very top of its head. We also went to see the ducks behind the scenes. The group also cleaned a cardinals cage and replaced the newspaper, water, and food. Behind the scenes is amazing!"

Caitlin, "We touched a black rat snake today and it felt scaley."

Michael, "Today I fed some cownose rays. There really fun to feed. They suck on your hand, it feels cool when they touch your hand."

Kelsey, "We got to feed the sharks today! It was great. We learned that sand tiger sharks feed really slowly. Sandbar sharks even jump to get their food. It was amazing! We even got to keep one of the shark teeth!"

Christopher, "I have learned that the cownose stingray has to be hand feed and the teacher is very nice."

Maddie, "Today I touched a black rat snake. It felt like rubber. We also got to feed the newts. They ate tiny shrimp."

Maren, "Me and my group got to feed the sharks! Some sharks were like "This is good! Give me more!" and the other type of sharks acted like "Whatever. I could care less." It was so cool! I loved it!"

Laura, "I learned how to feed the cownose rays, you have to put your hand out and wait for the ray to suck the food off."

William, "What I learned in Aquarium camp is that Wilson the suck is trained to go on people's arms. I got to touch Wilson and a quail, it's very cool."

Wade, "I learned that black rat snake is non-venomous."

Emily, "I learned about sharks and it was awesome! We got to feed them and I learned that if they are in a tank that you can't just throw in the fish you have to use tongs! And I got to take a shark tooth home!"