Waddling for a good cause

If you're needing some exercise and want to try and help save the African Penguin, then the "Waddle" may be just the thing for you (next year)!  This last week, 16 animal keepers from zoos and aquariums around South Africa walked a distance of 120km between Gansbaai and Simonstown.  All 3 South African penguin colonies were visited along their route: Dyer Island colony in Gansbaai, Stony Point colony in Betty's Bay and Boulders Beach colony in Simonstown.

What started as a pet project for a few keepers in 2011 has grown into quite an event and the media and public have been very supportive.  Penguin Promises is a campaign which was ‘hatched’ in 2011 when the AKAA (Animal Keepers Association of Africa) decided to choose an endangered species and create an awareness drive in support of it. The African penguin was chosen as their numbers are currently as low as 60,000 birds in the wild compared to a very healthy population about 100 years ago of approximately 1.5 million. Scientists claim that this species could go extinct within the next 15-25 years, should environmental conditions not improve for them. This bird is endemic to southern Africa and considered an iconic animal as well as an indicator species (indicating the state of our oceans).

As the waddlers walk, they are joined by members of the public, school children and other keepers all dressed in black and white to show their support for the penguins.  Bright yellow "Hoot for penguins" signs are carried by any willing volunteers to encourage passing traffic to join in.  Last year, they counted 682 cars hooting for the waddlers just during the 11km stretch through Strand!  

Instead of asking for money, the waddlers respond with: "We don’t want your money honey we want your love”.  Penguin Promises suggest that, to show that you care, instead of giving money, you make a conscious choice to change an aspect of your behavior that will have a positive effect on the environment.  A few examples of penguin promises are - recycling/reusing/reducing, saving water and electricity, planting an organic vegetable garden, using eco-friendly cleaners, refusing drinking straws and the single use plastic shopping bag.

It has been shown that many people making a small lifestyle change can make an enormous difference!  So if you're in the area in 2014, why not waddle on down and join these crazy keepers on a leg of their six day walking tour and make a difference.  In the mean time, why not make a promise?!

More information is available on www.penguinpromises.com

Fred and Ron

Hi Sea Fans!

I have to backtrack a little with my travels because I've gotten behind with my photos so this entry in my journal is all about  my visit with Ron and his friend Fred the Monkey in Washington State, USA.

Ron Hirschi, a fisheries biologist and children's book author, was shocked by the story of how albatross chicks were dying because their parents were feeding them plastic pieces that they had mistaken for squid and other fish.  He decided that Fred needed to teach everyone about the dangers of marine litter and what is happening to the albatross.  Fred has also been travelling around the world, visiting schools and doing beach and river clean-ups.  If you want to read more about his adventures, go to www.http://soaronhirschi.blogspot.com/2011/03/fred-happy-eyed-monkey.html

Fred with 2 Breidablik girls.  He wears a leg band from an albatross that died from eating plastic.

Ron was nice enough to have me visit and he took me to see a bunch of cool kids at a school that is closing down.  It's so sad, because of money issues and the economy the way it is, these kids have to find a new school.  They're the kids from Breidablik School.

These kids worked with Ron for a year.  They collected thousands of bottle caps and used them in an outdoor mural that you can see in the photo above.  Rubbish collected from nearby beaches and recycled plastic bits and pieces were used to make the fish and other sealife in the mural that's attached to their playground fence.

Here you can see some of the kids with their works of art....a big red shark and a jellyfish!

So Sea Fans, why not do a beach clean-up at your local beach (or river if you live inland) with your school or homeschool buddies and make some cool art like these guys and girls?  Send me a pic if you do! (abby@telkomsa.net)

Have a great week Sea Fans!
Chat soon.
Abby
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Tazzie!

Hi Sea Fans!

I've wanted to see Tasmania for a while now, all the photos that I've seen look so amazing...nature, nature and more nature!  So, guess what...I went there!  Thanks to Pam Elliot, my host, I got to see more than just Tasmanian nature, I got to see Woodbridge Island Marine Discovery Centre and what the staff and kids there get up to.  (Woodbridge Island is the most southern Marine Discovery Centre!!)

Checking out their seahorses.

I helped to clean the marine pond, checked out the touch tank, 

attended staff meetings, 

taught students about the impact of plastic on seabirds, 

Plastic debris from only ONE seabird stomach!

and explored the unique D’Entrecasteaux Channel. One of the highlights of my trip was taking some secondary students out on the research vessel the Penghana. 

Me doing my bit by teaching the kids.

It wasn't all work, some fun and games were had too.
Here I am doing the Titanic : )

Tasmania has an incredibly high marine biodiversity and a recent study has found an amazing 90% endemicity (belonging to a particular country). They also have some areas off the east coast where the sea surface temperatures are changing 3 times faster than the global average!! Together with the close proximity to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica this makes it a very interesting marine environment – and an exciting one to show students. 

So how about a visit to Tazzie Sea Fans?  I'd recommend it!  Thanks Pam for a great visit.

Have a fantastic week and chat soon.

Cheers

Abby

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Sustainable seafood - what's that?

Hi Sea Fans!

Such big words and everyone seems to be throwing them around so I thought I'd help you out a bit and show you what this means:

Exhibit by Ruth Wright.

This is definitely not your ordinary exhibit tank, but then again, neither is the message that goes with it.  This unusual tank has drawn quite a lot of attention since it was revealed and it's not even a big stand-alone tank, it's a small exhibit next to a whole bunch of others. The message is that of sustainability.  Sustaina-what? Yes, it's one of those irritating words that the media jump on and it starts to show up everywhere.  

If something is sustainable, then it means that it can keep going for years to come and not be used up.  What Ruth is trying to show is sustainable seafood, which is seafood that is either caught or farmed in ways that make sure that the species can continue into the future and not go extinct because of our actions.  What this means is that we need to be more selective of what we buy in the shops and eat in the restaurants.  And it's oh so easy.

There's an SMS line to which you can SMS the name of a fish (while you stand in the shopping queue or sit at your restaurant table) and you will get a reply telling you if it is alright to buy or if you should rather choose something else.

The picture at the top shows prawns which are on the orange list in South Africa.  Orange means that you should rather not buy them, unless they are farmed, as they are on their way to the red list (DO NOT BUY OR CATCH list).  The reason for this is that prawn trawlers are not selective, for every plate of prawns that you eat, NINE plates of bycatch go to waste!!!!

So Sea Fans, next time you go out to eat, tell mom and dad about the SMS line (0794998795) and do the right thing.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Abby

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Not so HAPPY FEET

Hi Sea Fans!

Anybody watched the movie Surf's Up?  And Happy Feet?  Well, you can guess which animal I'm going to tell you about can't you?!  A PENGUIN!  And not just any penguin, mind you, but Rocky the Rockhopper penguin at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa.

Poor old Rocky has sore feet!  He was found stranded in 1999 and taken to the aquarium for rehabilitation where he's been ever since.  He has a limp and suffers from arthritis (swelling of the joints - the place where bones meet).  Poor little guy, but he's lucky because he's getting 5 star treatment!

Rocky is carried between the two penguin areas (we wouldn't want him to put too much pressure on his joints!), he's had an operation on his foot, pulse magnetic therapy and gets acupuncture treatment.  Talk about going all out for your animals!  The staff watch his weight closely and he has nice swims in cold water which seems to reduce the swelling too.

Now who said you had to be human to enjoy life?!

Have a great weekend Sea Fans!
Cheers
Abby
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Seal eats shark!

Hi Sea Fans!

You have GOT to see this!  I was amazed when I first read about it because sharks are known for eating seals...not the other way around.  Chris Fallows, a well-known Great White Shark photographer saw it first hand.

This seal didn't only eat one, but FIVE blue sharks (bits of the sharks that were the tastiest) while Mr Fallows watched!  The sharks were all around 1.1 - 1.4m long, which could explain why they became supper.  Cape Fur Seals can grow up to 3 metres long and 315 kg.  I guess you always have to watch out when you're the smaller animal!!

If you want to read more, go to:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270184/Seal-attack-Hungry-creature-eats-sharks-rare-images-sea-mammal-turning-tables-predator-deep.html

Have a great week Sea Fans!

Cheers
Abby
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More at Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Hi Sea Fans!

After diving in the exhibits at DISL and partying up a storm with the docents at their annual party, I got to spend a day with the Discovery Hall Programs.

The day that I went, the elementary school on the island visited the Sea Lab for a Touch Lab.  DISL’s marine educators use the hands-on Touch Lab, a collection of preserved marine animals (animals that died and have been dried or put in special liquid called formalin that makes them stay in one piece), to teach students from across Alabama and beyond about the amazing creatures inhabiting their local waters. I joined the Dauphin Island Elementary 3^rd graders in learning about marine life of the Gulf of Mexico.

Students examine a preserved pregnant female Blue Crab.  Female Blue Crabs can produce up to 2 million eggs at a time!

Students took turns checking out the baby Lightning Whelk Snails under the microscope.

A Lightning Whelk.   Photo: www.wrightsvillebeachscenictours.com

Students learnt about the different body shapes and adaptation fish can have, from the round and spiky puffer or blowfish, to the flat and camouflaged flounder and the remora (shark sucker) which has a suction cup on top of its head!

Checking out the Pufferfish.

We then got to check out sharks, skates and stingrays...which are all related and have skeletons made up of cartilage.  (If you want to find out more about some different sharks and other predators, check out my book called PREDATORS in a bookstore near you OR order it online from Art Publishers, www.artpublishers.co.za).

A Bull Shark Jaw (known as a Zambezi where I come from).

The last thing we got to check out was bones bones bones!  

The boys loved the skull of the Loggerhead Turtle.

So all in all, it was a great time had by all.  I think the boys and girls had so much fun because it was all smiles when they said goodbye.  It was great to meet you all and I hope some of you decide to become marine biologists one day!! : )

That's it from me for today Sea Fans, chat soon.

Cheers!

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