Vancouver Aquarium
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| Vancouver Aquarium | |
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| Date opened | June 15, 1956 [1] |
| Location | Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN |
| Land area | 2.1 acres (9,000 m²) [1] |
| Accreditations/ Memberships |
AZA, CAZA, AMMPA |
| Website | |
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The Vancouver Aquarium is a public aquarium located in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition to being one of the largest and most important aquariums, it is a well respected centre for marine research, conservation and marine animal rehabilitation. It is a major tourist attraction for Vancouver and is often referred to as VA or Vanaqua by common visitors.
The aquarium is run by a self-supporting not-for-profit association. The operation of the aquarium receives no government funding. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver and managed by the City Parks Board.
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[edit] Aquarium history
The Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was formed in 1950. Officially Canada's first public Aquarium, it opened on June 15, 1956.
The Vancouver Aquarium has become the largest in Canada and one of the five largest in North America. The Aquarium is internationally recognized for display and interpretation excellence, and was the first facility to incorporate professional naturalists into the galleries to interpret animal behaviours. Aquarium research projects extend world-wide, and are internationally recognized for marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation.
The Aquarium has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured marine mammals for more than forty years. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has treated more than 2,000 seals, sea lions, elephant seals, otters, dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The program also helped rescue Springer, an orphaned killer whale successfully released and reunited with her family pod. Among other high profile rescues include the successful returning of a beached gray whale back to the water in 2005 and the rescue of Schoona, a lost green sea turtle near Prince Rupert, BC.
In 1975, the Vancouver Aquarium was the first aquarium accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The Aquarium is also accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and in 1987 was designated Canada's Pacific National Aquarium by the Canadian Federal Government.
On July 23, 1995, a beluga whale named Qila was born. She was the first beluga to be both conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium. A second calf, Tuvaq, was born on July 30, 2002, but died unexpectedly with no previous sign of illness on July 17, 2005.
In 1996, the Vancouver Aquarium vowed to never again capture cetaceans from the wild, and only obtain cetaceans from other facilities if they too were captured before 1996 (unless a rescue animal).
On June 15, 2006 Canada Post issued a 51 cent domestic rate stamp to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aquarium.
For many years, the primary attraction for visitors was the orca or killer whale show. Indeed, the aquarium was responsible for the first orca ever held alive in captivity, Moby Doll. Since then, it was home to Skana, Hyak II, Finna, Bjossa, and three of Bjossa's calves. When Finna died and Bjossa was left without other orca companions, the aquarium attempted to acquire one of more female orcas from other marine parks. However, no suitable companions were found and Bjossa was moved to Sea World, San Diego. The Aquarium has since moved to emphasize the educational aspects of the displays rather than the public spectacle of the shows. They have also tried to highlight the research and rehabilitation efforts of the staff.
The aquarium has played a significant role in the ground-breaking wild killer whale research in BC. John Ford, a respected researcher who focuses on orca vocalizations, worked there for many years and they still fund a lot of the study. The Wild Killer Whale Adoption Program, which funds research, is also run out of the aquarium.
[edit] Aquarium facility
The aquarium covers approximately 9000 m² (100,000 ft²) and has a total 9.5 million litres (2.5 million gallons) of water in 166 aquatic displays. There are a number of different galleries:
- Pacific Canada Pavilion is the central indoor tank, 260,000L. Highlighting the marine life from the Strait of Georgia.
- Arctic Canada includes the Beluga whales tank.
- The Wild Coast is an outdoor habitat that includes four Pacific White-sided Dolphins, harbour seals, Steller's Sea Lions, and sea otters.
- Treasures of the BC Coast is a series of separate exhibits that simulate the various environments with sea life found on the BC coast.
- Tropic Zone has a large display of tropical fish, including sharks.
- Amazon rainforest a number of large fresh water fish, snakes, caimans, a sloth and other creatures from the Amazon.
- Discovery Education Centre - coming in Fall 2006
- Canaccord Exploration Gallery - coming in Fall 2006
[edit] Animals at the Aquarium
Vanaqua is currently home to around 300 species of fish, almost 30 000 invertebrates, and 56 species of amphibians and reptiles. They also have around 60 mammals and birds.
[edit] Pacific White-Sided Dolphins
- Spinnaker has been at the aquarium the longest. He arrived at Vancouver Aquarium in 2001 to be a companion for Whitewings, another dolphin who unexpectedly died shortly after. He had previously lived in Japan, after being rescued from a fishing net and deemed unreleasable. Spinn was left alone for 3 years, until the arrival of three females provided him with companions of his own. He is easily recognized by his straight fin and his clear markings.
- Laverne arrived at the aquarium in July 2005. She had previously lived at SeaWorld and has been in captivity for over 20 years. She currently shares a pool with Spinnaker and is easily recognized by her dark, thick beak, and the dark circles around her eyes.
- Helen was rescued from fishing nets in Japan, but her side fins had to partially amputated, making her hard to miss. This energetic dolphin arrived in 2005 and shares a pool with Hana.
- Hana was also rescued from fishing nets and arrived with Helen in 2005. She was originally just called 'Number 8' and was named in a contest. Hana gave birth to a stillborn calf in June 2006, but is recovering nicely. She shares a pool with Helen.
[edit] Belugas
- Kavna is the whitest beluga at the facility, and the oldest. She was the first beluga to give birth in captivity (although the calf, conceived in the wild, died). She was also the inspiration for the classic children's song, Baby Beluga.
- Aurora is the dominant beluga at Vanaqua. She has grey patches on her, and a dark patch behind her blowhole. She was the first beluga to conceive and give birth in a Canadian aquarium, to her daughter Qila. She also had a son, Tuvaq, who unexpectedly died in 2005.
- Imaq is the only male at Vanaqua. He is immediately recognizable by his sheer bulk: he is the biggest beluga by far. He is very good-natured and loves to be touched.
- Qila is Aurora's daughter, born in 1995. She is the smallest beluga and still fairly grey. She also loves people and loves to investigate things at the underwater viewing glass.
[edit] Steller's Sea Lions
- Tag is currently the only sea lion on display at the aquarium. He shares his exhibit with the harbour seals (see below), and gets along with them very well (even though one of them tries to boss him around). He has an unprecedented relationship with his trainers and is very interactive with people. He is unmistakable, being at least 3 times bigger than his companions.
- Eden and Tasu have been behind the scenes since 2005, thanks to the new dolphins using their pool. They are both part of a research project for the aquarium, and are female. Hazy, another female, has been moved to an off-site research facility.
[edit] Harbour Seals
- Apollo is the dominant seal. He is the only black one, and the chubbiest. He bosses the others around, including Tag the male sea lion. He is very playful.
- DaVinci sometimes challenges Apollo for dominancy. He was rescued by the aquarium, and not released because of a spine deformation which causes a hump in his back. He is grey with a solid coloured forehead.
- Hermes is almost bronze-coloured and is often interested at the glass if people show him interesting things.
[edit] Sea Otters
- Nyac is the oldest and largest otter at the aquarium. She is the last living rescued survivor of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and her face is completely blonde.
- Milo is often seen with Nyac. His face is also fairly blonde, although darker than hers.
- Tanu was rescued as a pup and put with Nyac to learn to be an otter. She is still small and mostly dark-coloured.
- Elfin is another male at the aquarium.
[edit] External links
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Conservation biology | List of zoos | List of zoo associations | Zoological Garden | Menagerie | Tourist attraction | Wildlife Conservation | Endangered species |
