That’s a hot one. The, we had conducted the dolphin collection in two parts. We had a permit to take eight animals. The first venture was 1989, I believe. Anyway, we collected five animals. We had ’em in a, an offsite facility so they could acclimate, you know, to our… Read More
The other thing about, you know, the, the breeding programs is working cooperatively and there’s a very sophisticated animal record keeping system in a ZA such that we monitor and we actually try to identify pairings of animals that are not closely related. There’s, there’s a lot of scrutiny paid… Read More
Can you go into a little detail though about the white sided dolphin issue and how you were involved and what was going on?… Read More
So sometimes putting an animal in a specific habitat is not in their best interest because of pollution or somehow it’s been altered. So there’s, there’s a lot of considerations that have to be considered when looking at a national scope or international. So You had talked about activism. Read More
Boy, you know, the thing that jumps to mind, it’s going to seem kind of unusual, but to run an aquarium is very expensive. There’s number one, the variety in the number of exhibits. But the bottom line is you have life support that is critical to these animals. Certainly… Read More
The big thing with the habitats is that generally they’re being degraded. We have climate change, we’re raising the temperature of the oceans. I would never dream that’s possible, but animals respond to that. Animals may migrate, animals may not tolerate that. A big thing that Shedds involved with our… Read More
Well, okay, there’s still a lot of animals, but at least you’ve narrowed the scope. She aquarium’s tagline at one time was the world’s aquarium, which some of us in the, in the husbandry area thought, who, kind of a bold statement, you know, we don’t have all the world’s… Read More
What would you say is the largest professional problem facing US aquariums today, and what can be done to correct the problem?… Read More
So the, the curator would be more directly involved with that type of activity. Read More
How can we help affect collecting from the wild?… Read More
And, and the thing with fishes is to try to minimize how much we’re taking from the wild. Again, there’s some pushback, for instance, in Hawaii collecting of some reef animals or is prohibited. So there are some animals that were favorites of an aquarium that, a variety of aquariums. Read More
I mean, it’s been going on for decades now, but how can we contribute?… Read More
But the, the deal is that I think the curator is one that is hopefully more on the floor, more getting to see what’s going on, you know, has a hand in things, perhaps at times, certainly overseeing a transport or whatever. But in addition to that, a ZA has… Read More
And she told me this story. She goes, don’t tell anyone this, but when I was a child in Chicago, she goes, sometimes we would cut school, but we’d go to the museums. There’s a wonderful collection of museums in the city of Chicago. And I said, well, that’s a… Read More
And it was, after a while, I very much enjoyed that role because it’s a passion. It’s something that I feel personally, and I can speak to it very easily. Now, is the skill set for a curator different, I suppose you’re more hands on, the curator would be, you… Read More
Maybe a piece of legislation that might be of interest to us, maybe some regulatory activity. And there’s often, as you know, another side to the issue. It’s not just our opinion. So it was really important for us to get to know those individuals on a personal basis, which… Read More
There’s people that are really good at certain areas. Again, I was a very strong proponent of cross training, even fresh water to salt water type of thing, where people would get a more, a widespread portfolio, if you will, which would help us in the short term, but also… Read More
It was, it was a eye-opening experience for me when it, I first became the director, just a little background, I had served my highest level in the fishes department, and I was an assistant curator, and then I was a curator of marine mammals, and then I became director,… Read More
What skillset qualities does a director of collections need to be able to run an aquarium?… Read More
He goes, well, I, I got three roommates. I’m like, oh, okay. So I think the monetary part has a lot to do with being male or female. Now, the Aquarius don’t get paid more than the marine mammal trainers, but the bottom line is, I think it comes down… Read More