Teenage walruses dine on gourmand mussels at new dwelling in U.S. zoo
TACOMA, Wash., Dec 8 (Reuters) – A pair of adolescent walruses are settling into their new dwelling at a zoo in Tacoma, Washington, feasting on restaurant-quality mussels and clams.
Six-year-old male Balzak and feminine Lakina are half-siblings born simply two weeks aside, with the identical father however completely different moms. They’re now on the Level Defiance Zoo & Aquarium after a global journey by way of cargo aircraft and vehicles from the Aquarium du Quebec in Canada.
As a result of they had been initially skilled in a French-speaking province of Canada, each walruses are bilingual in terms of understanding and responding to instructions.
There are solely 14 walruses, that are thought-about weak however not endangered, in human care all through america.
“Their fundamental risk is local weather change,” Curator Malia Somerville. “The influence that local weather change has on walruses is the lowering free-flowing ice floes, which is the place they’d haul out to relaxation and which additionally offers habitat for his or her meals gadgets.”
The zoo retains a six-month stockpile of restaurant-quality seafood frozen at minus 22 Fahrenheit (minus 30 Celsius).
“We undergo 16,000 kilos (7,300 kg) of clam per yr only for walruses alone,” mentioned assistant curator Sheriden Ploof. “No matter seafood you’ll eat in a restaurant is what we’re feeding our walruses.”
Along with gourmand meals, the kids with tusks additionally acquired a dental perk in Quebec not out there within the wild — caps to advertise good well being.
[1/4] Six-year-old walruses Balzak and Lakina swim contained in the exhibit at Level Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, U.S., November 17, 2022. Katie Cotterill/Level Defiance Zoo & Aquarium/Handout by way of REUTERS
“Their tusks lack enamel or have little or no enamel. In order that makes them liable to creating put on very simply. And since they will get put on on them, they will get an an infection,” mentioned head veterinarian Karen Wolf.
In human phrases, each are thought-about youngsters in puberty.
As soon as the walruses are sufficiently old to breed, they could be relocated to appropriate companions.
“As soon as they’re able to reproduce, they may go to satisfy different walruses in order that they will have youngsters of their very own,” mentioned Somerville.
Learn extra:
Walrus spotted in Normandy port, miles from polar circle habitat
New Zealand zoo more than doubles its population of endangered lemurs
Polar bears scavenge on garbage to cope with climate change
Reporting by Matt McKnight; Enhancing by Lisa Shumaker
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Source link