ADVENTURE TAILS

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ADVENTURE TAILS

stories from SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, & Discovery Cove

IT'S A BOY!
Endangered Black Rhinoceros Born at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay welcomes a new member to its black rhinoceros family with the birth of a 80-pound male rhino calf on August 29. The birth of this endangered species is important for the conservation of black rhinos. There are only an estimated 2,400 black rhinos in the wild, down from 65,000 just 20 years ago. The baby brings the black rhino group at the adventure park to five, including its mother Jumatano and father Jasper.
Typical to newborn calves, the baby rhino is already walking and nursing comfortably with Jumatano. The newborn is the first black rhino born in the park since Jumatano's birth five years ago, which makes the new male calf a third generation rhino at Busch Gardens.
This rhino birth is part of an American Zoo & Aquarium Association (AZA) approved Species Survival Plan, a program developed among accredited zoological institutions to conserve endangered species such as the black rhino.
A rhino calf commonly nurses up to two years, and its horn formation usually becomes visible after one year. When fully grown, rhinos are the third-largest land animals, weighing up to one and a half tons.
More rhinoceros information

CHINA GIRL UPDATE

Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute Senior Scientist, Dr. Scott Eckert continues to track an endangered leatherback turtle as she continues her migration up the Atlantic coastline from Florida, "China Girl", an endangered leatherback sea turtle, too break to rest and feed off the coast of Virginia and the Nation's Capitol. It appears that she found an area of cooler water that may have provided her favorite food source, jellyfish.
China Girl is on the move north again. She is now off the coast of Maryland and moving northward to Delaware. Her pace appears to be accelerating. Dr. Eckert is hopeful that she will pick up the pace toward her northern feeding grounds in Nova Scotia. She continues to hug the coastline as she has done, since she left Florida. A large number of Leatherbacks have sighted in Nova Scotia for about the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately, for the endangered leatherback, reports of strandings have also increased there this year as well.
Past news about China Girl

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MANATEE RESCUE

SeaWorld animal care specialists Pedro Ramos and Richelle Ramos take direction from staff Veterinarian Dr. Mike Walsh and use betadine to flush out the right flipper of the newest rescued manatee. The two-year-old, 495- pound, female sea cow was rescued from a residential canal in Cocoa Beach with nylon rope entangled around its flipper causing deep cuts and infection. The SeaWorld animal rescue team took the manatee back to the park's rehabilitation facility to observe the wound and will perform an x-ray tomorrow.
This rescue is the 10th of the year for SeaWorld Orlando and happened on the same day Governor Jeb Bush declared a special manatee initiative to help decrease the manatee mortality rate due to watercraft.
More manatee information

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POLAR BEARS PAWING AT POPSICLES

SeaWorld Orlando polar bears, Klondike (l) and Snow (r), paw and gnaw on a real sweet treat - a polar popsicle. SeaWorld Adventure Campers mixed ice, Froot Loops, Cheerios, marshmallows, peanut butter and fish to create this unusual icy snack. Visitors to the park's Wild Arctic attraction can watch polar bears in action, usually in the morning hours.
More polar bear information

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