Celebrating World Turtle Day

May 23, 2017

African Sideneck Turtle

The African Sideneck Turtle is a freshwater turtle, originally discovered in Eastern and Southern Africa, with a lifespan of 25+ years. These turtles are most active during the day and in the wild they spend most of their time in the mud of shallow lakes and rivers. African Sidenecks mainly consume invertebrates such as: insects (crickets), mealworms, and worms. They got their name due to the fact that they cannot fully withdraw their head into their shell. Instead, the head is turned to the side and folded under the upper edge of the shell.

Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle

Similar to the African Sideneck, the Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle cannot fully withdraw its head into its shell. These turtles are native to the Amazon River basin and can be found in the amazon and Orinoco river systems in Venezuela, eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, the Guianas, Brazil, and northern Bolivia. They are omnivorous and feed on both vegetation and small animals. And they love to spend time basking along the riverbanks and in the calm waters of big rivers and streams. The oldest known Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle living in human care reached 23 years of age, but they can live up to 70 years!

Ohio Spotted Turtle

The Ohio Spotted Turtle is a small (less than six inches) black turtle with distinctive yellow spots on the top of the shell, or carapace. The Spotted Turtle populations have declined greatly throughout Ohio due to people altering wetlands and thereby destroying its natural habitat. These turtles have a preference for the shallow, sluggish waters of ditches, small streams, marshes, bogs, and pond edges – especially where vegetation is abundant. They feed on plant and animal matter taken underwater. If this turtle is disturbed it may quickly dive for safety, or it may leisurely walk into the water and swim to the bottom where it may remain motionless, burrow into the muck, or crawl beneath some sheltering object such as a submerged log.

The Spotted Turtle Project

Member organizations of the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership for Biodiversity (LEAP) are dedicated to the protection and restoration of biological diversity in our region. LEAP members have formed the Save and Protect Ohio Turtle Diversity (SPOTD) committee. The goals of this committee are to:

Increase survivorship of turtle hatchlings
Repatriate populations of this Ohio Threatened species in protected habitats within Northeast Ohio
Increase recruitment of these animals into the adult populations
Educate the public and involve local academics through research

There are many threats today that have a great impact on Spotted Turtle populations, such as:

Wetland Loss/Degradation
Habitat Fragmentation
Illegal Harvest/Pet Trade
Roadway Mortality
Climate Change
Human-caused increases in Meso-Predator Populations (i.e. Raccoon)
Delayed Sexual Maturity
Low Reproductive Potential
Pollution

During the months of March-May, if you see this yellow spotted, black turtle anywhere in Northeast Ohio as you are hiking through trails and natural areas, let the SPOTD committee know by emailing SPOTD@leapbio.org.

For more information on this project visit Leap’s website.

Backyard Wildlife

May 16, 2017

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Springtime, for many people, intuitively brings an awareness of renewal and life. The trees flower, the insects emerge, and of course baby wildlife is a wondrous sight. What can equal the rapture upon observing a baby deer take its first steps or a little bird learning to fly? People may come across baby animals in their backyards while clearing brush from last fall, when they begin to mow their lawns, or trimming trees and bushes. Sometimes, accidents happen and can leave wildlife injured or orphaned. Often, these people then want to then care for the animals and raise them. Although the intention is well-placed, most people do not have the information or resources to accomplish this properly and for the optimal health of the animals. This is where wildlife rehabilitators come in.

A wildlife rehabilitator is a person who has acquired the knowledge and permits, and understands the commitment involved in caring for an orphaned or injured animal. In Ohio, it is actually illegal to rear wildlife without a permit. This is for the protection of not only the wildlife, but also the people who wish to help. Wildlife can carry bacteria and viruses that are harmful to people; these types of illnesses are called zoonotic diseases. The wildlife rehabilitator would have gone through training to be able to identify the symptoms of such diseases and can take measures to protect oneself and provide the proper care for the animal.

Further, baby animals require highly specific diets vital to their growth and development. Cow’s milk from the store is not even a close substitute for most of the wildlife a person would come across. Just imagine the tiny bones of a squirrel and the functionality they provide that animal when dashing through the trees. The ingredients in cow milk are simply not suited for helping form those little skeletons. Likewise, feeding worms to a baby bird whose diet should consist of mostly seed is not only detrimental to its growth, but often fatal. An animal that is fed the wrong diet will quite frankly starve to death because it is not getting the nutrients required for its species. Wildlife rehabilitators have the permits, education, and experience to provide the proper care for an animal that needs help.

Conversely, many times a baby animal is found, it is not in need of human assistance. Many times the animal is healthy, but the parents are away finding food or deterring predators. No person educated or otherwise can provide the equivalent care that a mother can. It is always best to try to reunite with the parents before attempting to bring that animal into a captive environment. If the animal is injured or the parents are known to be dead, that of course would invite human help. When capturing an animal in need of assistance, personal safety should always be the priority. Animal will bite, no matter how cute they appear. Once the animal is captured, it should be placed in a dark, quiet place until it can be transported to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator, which should happen as soon as possible. The animal should not receive any food or water! Depending on the animal and what circumstances led to the need for assistance, this can be dangerous. An animal whose body temperature has dropped below normal, for example, can die if given food or water to try to digest in addition to trying to bring its temperature back up. This simply places too much stress on the body and it will shut down. The animal must be taken to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible to legally receive the proper diet and medical care.

Why would the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, which has fish, care about local wildlife, you may ask. The Greater Cleveland Aquarium, as a conservation organization, takes an interest in this topic because it is a conservation and stewardship issue. GCA has some animals in its care that were rescues and required a permanent home. We strive to provide the best care for the animals for which we are responsible, and wish to see the same for any species. Remember to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator if you come across an animal in need. Please do not attempt to raise the animal on your own. It is difficult, not to mention illegal, to do so.

O-fish-ally The Best Moms

May 14, 2017

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Archerfish

The female lays about six to eight eggs in a very secluded group of trees. Usually, it can find a very safe hollow within the roots, visible only by careful observation. These eggs are undeveloped, and are only about half a nailsbreadth in width. There are usually many more female eggs than male eggs, about a two to one ratio.

As soon as the eggs are hatched, the male leaves and the females are left to take care of the newborns. This process sounds difficult, but because of the rapid rate at which they mature, only about a month to reach full size, the mother is actually not unduly challenged. They must be very carefully as to not aggravate a female by not checking to make sure the tissue between their anal fins is still intact. This is almost never a problem, but if it does happen the female will answer by fiercely by blowing water in the face of the male.

Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus has one successful brood in her lifetime. After mating, a female will lay up to 74,000 eggs or more in a deep den or cave and live there for seven months watching over them. During this time, dedicated mothers won’t venture out for food, and shortly after the young hatch, the mother will die.

Banggai Cardinal fish

The female spawns a mass of up to 75 large eggs (a very small number for a marine fish). These are quickly swallowed by the male, and brooded in a special pouch inside the mouth. A unique feature of these cardinal fish is their manner of mouth brooding reproduction. Typically cardinalfish incubate their eggs orally until they hatch, at which point the fry swim away and enter the water column. Females aggressively defend its territory by immediately chasing any intruders that approach the brooding male.

Stingrays

Young stingray pups hatch from eggs inside the female and are released from her body alive. Its reproduction period is June through October. Cownose rays typically produce one pup per pregnancy, though there have been reports of six concurrent embryos in a female.

World Water Day

March 31, 2017

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Last week the Greater Cleveland Aquarium hosted Drink Local Drink Tap’s educational event, World Water Day for the fourth year. Since 2010, Drink Local. Drink Tap., Inc. (DLDT) has led educational, youth focused events on the United Nation’s International World Water Day (WWD) every March 22nd.

Last Wednesday, DLDT brought 300 Wavemaker Program students to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium for a day of exploration, water education and awards thanks to the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Students from Lake County Catholic, Citizens Leadership, Lakewood Catholic Academy and more explored the aquarium and visited interactive learning stations provided by Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District, Great Lake Erie Boat Float, and Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District.

The day’s presentations, posters and activities focused on the importance of local water resources and the accessibility of safe drinking water around the world. One of the activities involved students decorating water jugs to carry around all day as a constant, visual reminder of the day’s theme.

If you want to learn more about the work of Drink Local Drink Tap, World Water Day, or how to be more involved visit drinklocaldrinktap.org.

Pups With a Purpose

March 7, 2017

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Here’s How Fur and Fins Come Together at the Aquarium

Canine Companions for Independence provides highly trained assistance dogs to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Yesterday the Northern Ohio Chapter visited the Greater Cleveland Aquarium with 8 dogs in training.

The organization, founded in 1975 and based in California, breeds, raises and trains dogs that, according to its website, are matched with adults, children or veterans with a disabilities, or professionals assisting clients with special needs. As you can see in these photos, must pups are a Labrador/Golden Retriever crossbreed.

During their visit, volunteers started by working on basic commands. After 24 months of training, these dogs will be able to respond to 30-40 commands ranging from “sit” to “vertical” (used eventually to turn wall light switches on or off).

The volunteer group, consisting of 10-15 active members in Northeast Ohio, meets twice a month and expose the future service dogs to being in active, populated spaces. The canines in training try out different modes of transportation and explore attractions from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to the Great Lakes Science Center.

“Any place you can think of, they go,” Staicey Scholtz, Volunteer Chapter President. “The [West Side] Market is a great chance for training not only because of the crowd, but because of the smell. In service these dogs will visit various market settings and the odors can be a lot for them.”

The process doesn’t end after their training in Cleveland. Service dogs receive another 6-8 months of professional training, where more specific commands are taught geared toward the need of those on the 1-3-year waitlist. After a 2-week team training where those in need of a service dog meet their partner, a graduation ceremony marks the official “handing over of the leash.”

Canine Companions for Independence is the longest and oldest service dog organization, placing approximately 400 dogs a year, free of charge.

“It’s so great to know you’re making such a difference for someone,” added Scholtz. “That’s the goal and it’s the best part of the whole process.”

Conserving Lake Erie and Our Great Lakes

February 3, 2017

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

For many of us who live in Northeast Ohio, Lake Erie is a place where we can visit and have fun. The scenic beaches, great fishing, boating and other recreational opportunities are all reasons people are living by such a great waterway. Lake Erie and its counterparts; Huron, Michigan, Superior, and Ontario are important for many more reasons than being fun to visit. Formed 10,000 years ago as the glaciers retreated forming large depressions that filled with water, the great lakes took on their familiar formation that they are found today. These lakes provide critical habitat for thousands of native species, supply vast amounts of drinking water to millions of people and served as important connection route to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River.

The Great Lakes impressively span over 94,000 square miles and hold about 6 quadrillion gallons of water! That accounts for 20% of the world’s fresh water reserves and 90% of the U.S.’s drinking water supply¹. The people of the United States aren’t the only ones who depend on the Great Lakes fresh water; Canada does too with about 35 million people from both countries living within the Great Lakes Basin. When combined, all five lakes make up 10,000 miles of shoreline². This shoreline is made up of forested areas, urban centers, and wetlands.

There are many benefits to the Great Lakes for both people and wildlife. As a whole, the lakes bring in about $4.5 billion just with the sport fishing industry³. Many fishermen enjoy catching walleye, lake trout, perch and other sport fish. Recent studies by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) found that the revenue brought in from all economic activities such as boating, fishing, hunting and wildlife watching in the Great Lake States amounted to $50 billion⁵! The lakes and surrounding basin is home to 3,500 species of plants and animals, including more than 170 species of fish⁴. They also provide critical breeding and migrating areas for colonial and migratory birds.

Now, lets recap the importance of our Great Lakes: large revenues for local economies brought in through the wildlife and recreation uses, home to thousands of natural species of plants and animals, thousands of miles of beautiful shorelines used both for natural and developmental purposes, and most importantly serve as 90% of the U.S. citizens drinking water. With so many important factors built into the Great Lakes we must too consider the threats.

Many of us living within Northeast Ohio can joke about the time in 1969 that the Cuyahoga River caught fire because it was polluted from decades of dumping industrial waste, but this shouldn’t be a laughing matter. Today, while Ohio has cleaned up Lake Erie, there are still active threats to our waterways including; invasive species, pollution, and wetland destruction.

Invasive species have already changed the ecology of our lakes. Zebra mussels and the sea lamprey are now comfortably adapted to the lakes. Zebra mussels can be found sticking to any hard surface-being docks, rocks and even boats. They are such efficient filter feeders that while they do contribute to clearer water, they also make it harder for small fish to catch a meal. The Sea lamprey has successfully out competed the native lake trout as the top predator in 4 out of 5 of the Great Lakes. Only Lake Superior has a natural breeding population that can still out compete the sea lamprey. The other four lakes have to be annually restocked with lake trout to keep their numbers viable². One invasive fish that has yet to make its way to the Great Lakes is the Asian Carp, a prolific feeder with no natural predators. It will out compete many of the large carnivorous fish within our lakes if it is able to cross from the Mississippi waterway.

Chemical contaminants are another important threat that cannot be ignored. Pollutants such as DDT and PCBs, while not as much as a threat as they were in the 70’s and 80’s are still contributors to much of the contaminants found in the lakes, built up as a result of over use of insecticides on our farms and improper disposal of coolant fluids. Chemicals such as mercury can build up in fish as a result of the emissions from coal burning plants. Excessive use of nutrients and fertilizers on big farms leach into ground water and end up in the lakes causing harmful algal blooms that can make people sick¹.

post 6 — Satellite photo of 2011 toxic algae bloom (shown in green)

Wetlands are important wildlife refuges that are becoming threatened from human and invasive animal impacts. Important wetland ecology is being disrupted through increased development from both home building and industrial use. Even the introduction of our new invasive species can harm important food web ecology. It may sound like the stuff of nightmares, but there is hope, and it comes from people like you!

Many foundations including the National Science Foundation, NOAA, the Sierra Club and many other Non-Profit organizations are here to help us keep our Great Lakes in good condition. There are also important policies in place such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts that help police big businesses from dumping pollutants and protecting our waterways. The biggest difference though, can come from you! Did you know that there are things you can do to make Lake Erie and the rest of the Great Lakes great? Even by supporting policies that create renewable energy or by using energy efficient products, you can help keep our water clean and wildlife safe⁶. Also, remember that you can be helpful just by conserving water: take shorter showers, don’t excessively water your lawn, and turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth. It may all sound like small contributions, but if everyone chips in, we will keep our Great Lakes in great condition for future generations.

Miscellaneous ways you can help our lakes⁷:

To Reduce Invasive Species:

*If you are an angler or a boater, power wash your boat and trailer before putting it into another body of water, or let it dry for at least five days.

*Drain your bait wells, bait buckets, and other equipment on land, not into the water.

*Never release live fish or aquatic plants into the wild, such as aquarium fish or species such as the Asian carp.

*Do not leave the bank or shore of any water with any live fish or live fish eggs, including leftover minnows.

To reduce polluted runoff:

*Use rain barrels to collect water.

*Don’t put yard waste in the roads.

*Reduce use of pesticides and fertilizers.

*Use non-toxic cleaning products in your home.

*Do not burn trash.

*Dispose of medications at proper facilities.

Footnotes:

¹ NWF.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Waters/Great-Lakes.aspx

²https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wild-Places/Great-Lakes.aspx

³ Aquatic nuisance species in the New York State Canal and Hudson River systems and the Great Lakes Basin: an economic and environmental assessment.” Environ Manage. 2005 May;35(5):692-702.

⁴ http://www.livescience.com/29312-great-lakes.html

⁵NOAA’s Great Lakes Region

www.ppi.noaa.gov/Regional_Collaboration/Regional_Overviews/GreatLakesRegionOverview_042507.pdf

⁶www.nwf.org/climate-smart.

⁷https://vault.sierraclub.org/greatlakes/downloads/2008-06-activisttoolkit.pdf

My First Time Diving

December 30, 2016

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

I never would have expected that the first time I donned my gear and stepped into the water that my life would be forever altered.

As a zoology major I took a special interest in Marine Science. While looking at potential jobs, I realized that getting my scuba diving certification would be a necessity. So, after classroom and pool instruction, one early May Saturday morning I woke up before the crack of dawn and made my way to Gilboa Quarry.

Being my first dive and not knowing what to expect had me both excited and nervous. The water was a brisk 45 degrees so I was instructed to wear gloves and a hood, which I had never practiced before. The feeling was restrictive which only made my nerves worse. Although I was scared, I was exhilarated knowing I was finally going to dive, so I took a deep breath and jumped in.

Being in the water was amazing. I felt like I was entering an entirely different world. Visibility of at least 40 feet made my experience with seeing the rainbow trout, perch, catfish and paddlefish more than I expected.

When I reached the underwater platform, we began to practice the skills we learned in class. When I was instructed to take off my mask and put it back on, I started to freak out. I had a million thoughts running through my head. Will this be different from what I practiced with a hood on? Will I be able to breathe? Will I be stuck with a water-filled mask? Luckily we were not far from the surface so I went up and calmed myself down.

Once I collected myself, the instructor walked me through everything and I realized that I would be completely fine. After practicing a few more skills in the water, we followed my instructor for a “fun dive”. This consisted of stare downs with perch, swimming through tire obstacles, feeding zebra mussels to blue gills, pretending to jump on a trampoline, playing rock paper scissors, and lots and lots of smiling. Actually, I kept flooding my mask with water because every time I smiled, water cracked through the bottom of my mask! However, I didn’t care; I cleared it as practiced and focused on the underwater world in front of me. It felt like the quarry went on forever, finding new treasures and organisms every inch we went. We explored the inside of sunken airplanes, cars, boats, helicopters and buses. Some of these are things I’ve never even experienced on land!

The most memorable part of this dive was when our instructor took us over the big sunken school bus. He stopped us before we swam and gave us some weird hand signals that we thought meant, “follow me”. We were wrong… we followed him over and rested at the top. In an instant, we are surrounded by at least 100 fish; big, small, brown, yellow, hungry, starving. Us students were laughing into our regulators; flailing our arms in a tornado of fish until eventually we swam away panting. After we got out of the water, turns out those hand signals meant, “swim on the side of the bus, and don’t go over it.” Apparently that bus is a place instructors go with food to feed the fish, so they always swarm there (thanks for the warning instructor am I right?) After what felt like an exhilarating few hours, we surfaced only to find twenty-three minutes had passed. Time slows when you’re underwater, and thankfully so.

I had the time of my life. My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing, my brain couldn’t believe I was breathing and my heart couldn’t believe I’ve missed this feeling for twenty two years of my life. Though its embarrassing to say, I climbed out of the water only to run to my mom and tell her, “I can’t wait to get back in!!!” with a gigantic smile on my face.

That first dive, six months ago, has lead me to my current position as an Exhibit Diver here at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium and I happily wake up at 6am everyday anxious to get in the water.

To see what I explored on my first dive, click here!

Diving Physics

December 19, 2016

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Becoming a SCUBA diver is more than learning how to breathe under water; you also have to understand the physics that explain why certain things occur while you are diving.

Starting with the basics:

Density: water is 1000 times denser than air, and while air’s density can vary- the density of water cannot.

Heat: Water has a high heat capacity ~4 times more than air. Water also has high thermal conductivity. Heat is conducted 22-24 times faster in water. This means, divers get colder quicker when in water. Wet and dry suits are different types of clothing worn by divers that can keep them warmer for longer.

Sound: Sound travels differently through water than air. When something makes a sound above the water you generally can tell what direction it is coming from, whereas in water you cannot pinpoint a direction. This is due to the fact that sound travels four times faster in water than in air.

Compressibility: Air can be compressed. When divers fill their dive tanks, they will use air compressors to fill the tank to 3000 psi. Water, however, cannot be compressed. You cannot take two liters of water and fit it into any container smaller than a two-liter bottle.

Light: Ever stick a straw in a cup of water and look at it from the side? The straw appears to be bent. This is due to the refraction of light when it passes through water.

Objects also appear larger and closer when under water. It isn’t uncommon for new divers to reach for something in front of them (a rope for example) and completely miss grabbing it. This is because the rope appeared to be closer than it really was.

Light absorption in water is high compared to in air. The first color to disappear as you go deeper into the water is red; the following colors of the rainbow too would disappear when you go deep enough. This is why underwater cameras, for example, GoPro, often have a red filter so that the photographer can capture all of the colors of beautiful reefs and fishes while at depth.

There are also some important principles to take into account when scuba diving. The first, Archimedes Principle, states that a body immersed in liquid is buoyed up by force equal to the weight of displaced water. As a diver you have to be able to accomplish neutral buoyancy when diving. Neutral buoyancy means that you are neither sinking nor rising within the water column.

Divers first need to use some weight when diving, especially when wearing a highly buoyant wet suit. The excess weight helps displace the water that surrounds the diver. The next important piece of equipment is called the Buoyancy Compensating Device (BCD). This is the vest that divers wear; it contains an air bladder that can be filled with the air from the divers scuba tank. The BCD helps the diver become neutrally buoyant by adding the correct amount of air to almost counter the weight worn by the diver-it should look like the diver is hovering within the water.

Another important principle is Boyles Law-volume varies inversely with pressure, with the greatest relative change in volume occurring near the surface.

Simply put-as a diver goes deeper into the water, the pressure on everything becomes greater. The volume of air in the dive tanks is getting smaller while the pressure rises. Remember from the basics that you can compress air. This also means that the air in the divers lungs also becomes compressed when at depth. When the diver surfaces- one of the most important rules is to be continuously breathing. Never hold your breath when ascending. This is due to the air in the lungs will start to expand because there is less pressure of the water exerted on the body. Holding your breath can cause catastrophic injury to divers lungs.

Charles Law, which states; at constant volume, pressure varies directly with temperature. When divers need to fill their air tanks, they must do so slowly. This is because as the tank fills, all of the air molecules are being jam packed into a rigid area.

Those molecules will start bumping into one another as the pressure builds- creating heat. A newly filled tank will feel warm and if filled too quickly will show a higher pressure than what is actually in the tank. Given time to cool, the tank will read at a lower psi.

Dalton’s law of partial pressures is our next physics lesson-especially for divers who are diving on NITROX. NITROX is a mixture of gases that allows divers to stay at depth longer due to its enrichment of oxygen. The law states that the total pressure exerted by a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the pressures that would be exerted by each gas if it alone were present and occupied the total volume.

Ptotal = P1 +P2 +P3….

Even though a gas mixture is made up of several different constituents, each gas will demonstrate its own behavior. This is important for divers to understand because they must be aware of oxygen toxicity (yes, you can have too much oxygen if you go too deep on enriched air) and Nitrogen Narcosis which occurs at depths around 100 feet and deeper and makes the diver sluggish and even drowsy and can have an effect on good decision making.

The final law divers should be aware of is Henry’s Law. The solubility of gases: the amount of gas that will dissolve into a liquid is a function of the partial pressure of the gas over the liquid. With great depth comes greater partial pressure. More gas dissolves in cold water. This law is important to divers because as they go deeper in the water their body will absorb nitrogen gas into their tissues. When the divers want to return to the surface they must do so at a controlled slow rate so that the nitrogen they absorbed at depth is effectively off-gased. Divers should be aware that at greater depth they would have high absorption rates of gases.

Although these laws may be a lot to take in, they are all very important to all SCUBA divers. The laws help divers remain safe when adventuring in the world underwater.

Diver Costume Construction

October 10, 2016

Written by Greater Cleveland Aquarium

The dive team loves participates in many GCA holiday events including Halloween and Scuba Claus. Construction of the underwater props and costumes for these dives needs to ensure that both the diver and animal safety is always taken into consideration. Marine animals are very aware and often curious about changes in their environment and will investigate, pick at and if given the opportunity, eat anything new. We see this every year with our Halloween pumpkins. Within minutes of being placed in an exhibit they will be picked, ripped and eaten. Because of this anything we build and take into an exhibit that can be eaten needs to be approved be the curator. Props need to minimize dangling straps, threads, strings and anything that an animal can remove. Care must be taken to not have anything come off the costume such as metal which can scratch the acrylic or sequins that may be ingested.

Construction materials used for props need to chosen to not cause an adverse reaction in the exhibit. Some metals, copper in particular, can be toxic to the animals and should not be used. PVC and approved adhesives are best as these minimize the potential to upset the delicate chemical balance in the environment. Paints and coating must chosen with the same consideration. Paints and coatings must also resist flaking and peeling for the same reasons.

The goal of costumes is to enhance the guest interaction, particularly our younger guest. Planning for these events starts months in advance. Choosing a theme that is relevant and easily recognizable is debated and finally decided on. Once that decision is made we brainstorm what costumes and accessories will enhance the show. Often costumes can be purchased but often we will construct accessories. Last year’s “Ghost Busters” Halloween costumes were purchased, but the additional accessories, such as the Proton Pack and Ghost Trap were made using the guidelines outlined above. Using PVC pipe to create swords and nunchucks enhanced the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes.

Scuba Claus is a major event for the Dive Team. The addition of the full face mask with underwater communications adds to the experience but also contributes to a more complicated and time considerations in getting divers safely in their gear and in the water. Did you know it could take up to 15 additional minutes for Scuba Claus to get dressed before he makes his trip down to see all the guests? Because the team makes so many dives in a short time, the costume requires constant attention and repair.