Name Me!

Meet CM06. Wait. What?

Peek into the Cape Fear Shoals, the Aquarium's largest exhibit, to see this gregarious green sea turtle. One minute, the juvenile turtle is observing visitors at the windows. The next it's using a rocky outcropping to give itself a back, er, shell rub. Yet, despite its antics the turtle has officially been known as CM06 for several years.

Obviously, CM06 doesn't stand for "catchy moniker." CM actually stands for Chelonia mydas, the scientific name for greens. The 06 refers to the number of the hatchling when it was excavated from a late season nest found on Emerald Isle in 2010. At that time the animal was suffering from a respiratory infection and additional medical issues. Aquarium staff treated the animal and in their care it has thrived. Now you have a chance to give the sea turtle a name with some character.

Aquarium staff selected three names for the public to vote on: Emerald, Jade and Sheldon. You can vote for your favorite until August 5 here.

Visitors to the Aquarium can also cast a vote for their pick through a monetary donation. One dollar equals one vote and benefits Aquarium conservation and education efforts. The winning name will be unveiled during an Aquarium dive show the week of August 5.

Learn more about CM06 and its early days here.

Here are a few facts about green sea turtles you may not know:

• Green sea turtles are threatened in North Carolina and endangered in other parts of the United States.
• Greens hold their breath longer than any of the seven sea turtle species.
• Greens love to bask in the sun. These turtles can often be seen sunning on the beaches in Hawaii and Australia.
• Adult greens live on a vegetarian diet. Eating only plants turns their fat a green color. This is why they are known as greens.

 

Seeking inspiration

What inspires you? Is it an experience, a person, an idea? Is it nature or art? Is it something else? I believe the natural world enhances the experience of being human. For me, beauty in nature inspires awe, wonder and curiosity. Experiencing nature connects me to a better, fuller life. Nature is at the core of the Aquarium; each animal and exhibit offers a glimpse of the wild.

North Carolina Aquariums’ mission statement reads: “Inspiring appreciation and conservation of aquatic environments.” Is an Aquarium visit inspiring?  

 

When you step in to the first Aquarium building at Fort Fisher a waterfall, trees and free-roaming birds greet you. Does the transition change how you feel? Are you more attuned to life around you in a new way? Watch as little kid faces press against exhibits, reaching to get closer to life on the other side. Eye-to-eye and nose-to-nose people connect with animals at every turn. Are they inspired and if so, to what end?

 

As you move from freshwater swamps and rivers, to the coastal and marine building does the change in lighting and sound affect you? Again and again visitors share stories of special shared moments touching animals and engaging with staff. What is it about connecting with animals that is so compelling and appealing? Is the experience as powerful if it isn’t shared?

Standing next to a wall of water teaming with fish, joined occasionally by a curious green sea turtle, do you feel transported to an underwater world? Is it calming, frightening, inspiring? What is it that draws you to glimpse under the surface of the sea?

 

Answers to the question of why you visit, if you visit, the Aquarium at Fort Fisher surely varies and I’d love to know. For me, the connection to animals and people - visitors and staff – improves my quality of life and inspires me every day.

-Peggy Sloan

Director, NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher

10 Green HalloweenTips

Halloween! The staff at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher loves the frightening, fun festivities and decorations that accompany this time of year.  Visions of skeleton pirates, zombie divers and scary sea creatures dance in our heads. 

Yet, by far the most frightening thing about Halloween is the incredible amounts of waste and plastics created, used and discarded in connection with the holiday. Unfortunately, when the spooky fun ends, too much trash ends up in our landfills and polluting our waterways and ocean.

1.        Here are 10 ways you can put some green-think into your Halloween:

1.  Skip the Scary Plastic:Store-bought costumes are an easy way to get scary; but what’s scarier is that mass-produced ready-to-wear costumes from the supermarket are often made with non-recyclable chemicals and synthetic fibers that are not biodegradable. Upcycle a costume instead! Use old or donated clothing to make your costume. Make it a family project and you create memories and something original, without all the plastic and paper waste.

2.       Host a Creepy Community Costume Swap: Make it a party, invite the neighbors and foster environmental consciousness all at the same time. Your old dusty prom dress just became someone else’s awesome new “Bride of Frankenstein” costume! Register a swap date online at: https://www.greenhalloween.org/CostumeSwap/register.html

3.       Reuse a Trick or Treat Tote: Don’t buy a new plastic jack-o-lantern just to use one night. Lug your treats with a reinvented pillow case. They always hold more candy anyway! Already have an orange jack-o-lantern bucket? Use it again this year, then again next year (and the next)!

4.       Buy in Bulk: Look for candy with less packaging. This will cut down on waste and give you more for your money. Think little mini boxes versus large individually, plastic-wrapped treats. Look for brands that use recycled or recyclable packaging.

5.       Recycle the Wrapper: Approximately 598 million pounds of candy are consumed every year around Halloween, according to a report issued by Nielsen several years ago. That’s a lot of candy and a lot of trash. What to do with all the “trash” after you’ve indulged in your sweet tooth? Recycle as much of it as you can! You can bring your candy wrappers to the Aquarium and we send them to TerraCycle to be repurposed into items like purses and bags.

Upcycled candy wrapper bag from TerraCycle

6.       Keep Your Eco-Footprint Local: Purchase a pumpkin at a nearby farm. This supports the local economy and significantly reduces the fuel used for transportation in comparison to pumpkins that are mass-shipped to supermarkets.

7.       More Pumpkin, Please: When carving your pumpkin, save the seeds to make a delicious spiced or roasted fall treat. Once Halloween comes and goes, compost the fruit and to keep it out of landfills.

8.       Exercise, Don’t Drive: Instead of driving from house-to-house or street-to-street: walk! Saves gas and help take a load off the calorie spike accompanying all of those treats.

9.       DIY Décor: Halloween is the second biggest decorating holiday after Christmas, according to the National Retail Federation. Why spend money on non-recyclable products, with excess packaging? Keep it simple. Upcycle everyday household items to give them a spooky makeover. Use old sheets and some leaves or newspaper to make ghosts. Go natural with corn husks, gourds and pine cones, all of which are 100 percent compostable.

10.   Keep it Up:  No need for green behaviors to end after the 31^st. Keep it going all year. If you’ve never composted, the harvest season is a great time to begin. Use fallen leaves, pine cones, corn kernels and old jack-o-lanterns to start. Use simple do-it-yourself decorations and recycled crafts for holiday decorating in December, February or any time. Keep it local. Support organic markets whenever you can, and when you can’t, select minimal packaging and biodegradable products.

New Animals at the Aquarium

We are excited to announce the addition of two new animals to the Aquarium family!

Spotted eagle ray

Aquarium staff introduced the spotted eagle ray to his new home on July 10. The young male, called "Twister", is acclimating well to the Aquarium’s largest exhibit and his new neighbors. Visitors can easily recognize the animal by his whip-like tail fin, the fluid winging movement of his large pectoral fins, a pronounced snout, and, of course, a white polka-dot pattern on the brown dorsal body.

Spotted eagle rays can grow to 9 feet wide and weigh as much as 500 pounds. They live throughout tropical and warm waters as far north as North Carolina in the summer and as far south as Brazil. This species also lives in the Red Sea and waters surrounding the Hawaiian islands.

The species is near threatened globally. Small litter sizes, schooling tendencies and inshore habitat preferences make this species particularly vulnerable to overfishing.

Twister, a spotted eagle ray at the Aquarium.

Goliath grouper

A Goliath grouper may reach an adult weight of 400 pounds, so Aquarium staff knew it would take some clever arranging skills to be able to put their goliath grouper on exhibit. Though not fully grown, the potential size of the fish necessitated a larger exhibit with lots of room for the grouper to grow. It was decided that the grouper would be a great addition to the Blockade Runner Condor exhibit. But, portions of the replicated shipwreck would have to be removed in order to allow for goliath grouper’s growing potential.

Aquarium staff relocated fish currently living in Blockade Runner to other exhibits and set about draining the tank to cut away a large central portion of the shipwreck. Once removed, the tank was refilled and prepared for its new occupants. The goliath grouper was successfully relocated to the Blockade Runner exhibit in mid-August. 

This species is critically endangered globally. In 1990, the U.S. enacted a harvest ban to protect this vulnerable species which will hopefully allow this beautiful fish to bounce back from near extinction.

A goliath grouper at the Aquarium.

Predator vs. Prey Summer Camp: Box Turtle

Each day summer campers interact with an animal and learn about that particular animal's relationship with either it's predator or it's prey.

On day 2, the theme is "Herbivores". Campers learned about box turtles and the relationship box turtles have with their "prey" which is often fruit, vegetables, crickets and worms.

In their own words, campers describe their favorite predator-prey interaction:

"Box turtles and fruit, vegetables and crickets." -Angel
"Box turtle - crickets and leaves." -Alyssa
"A box turtle [because] they eat worms." -Skyla
"The box turtle because it was so cute to see its eyes." -Sophia
"The box turtle [was my favorite predator-prey interaction]." -Skeets

Predator Vs. Prey Summer Camp: Relationships

For the next two weeks, summer campers will learn how tough life in the animal world is. Campers are learning about animal relationships and interactions. In the animal world, you must eat or be eaten.

In their own words, campers name their favorite predator/prey relationship they've learned so far.

"My favorite predator relationship would be cows and grass." -Alexia
"Megalodons and giant squid." -Katy
"Yellow stingray and its prey [which] is fish." -Michael K.
"My favorite predator is a turtle. Turtles eat jelly fish." -Laura
"Blue heron and fish." -Sam
"My favorite predator and prey are killer whales and sea lions/seals." -Kelly
"My favorite predators are wolves. They eat deer and other wild animals." -Sydney
"Lions and zebras!" -A.J.T.
"Manta-ray and crill." -Dakota
"Deer who eat plants. I love deer and plants." -Campbell

Animal Keepers Summer Camp: Private Dive Show

As this week's summer camp sessions wrap up, campers were thrilled to get a chance to see their very own PRIVATE dive show. Behind the scenes, summer campers saw how the divers prepare the for the show and interact with animals in the Cape Fear Shoals tank. During the show, campers "talked"  with divers while they were in the water.

For many campers, this was one of their favorite activities of the week. In their own words, campers explain why they enjoyed the dive show.

"[My favorite activity was] watching the fish. I liked seeing people dive in the water with them." -Kailei
"Seeing our own private dive show [was my favorite activity] because it was interesting." -Madison
"I liked seeing the dive show because it was our very own!" -Anna
"I liked seeing the diver because all the fish were like really close to him." -Parker
"I liked seeing the scuba divers because we got to go to the very top [of the tank]." -Madison