Emerald tree boas can grow as long as 8 feet! They live in tropical rain forests, where they coil up on tree branches. If you know what “nocturnal” and arboreal” are, you’ll know emerald tree boas are active at night. These boas are covered in bright green scales with white or yellow blotches.
This is Merlin, a River Otter!
River otters are aquatic mammals. They generally live along rivers, as their name implies, but they’re also found near streams and lakes. Otters prefer water bordered by woods and with wetlands, such as marshes, nearby. Flexing their long bodies up and down, paddling with their webbed hind feet, and using their feet and strong tails to steer.
Construction on our remodeled Nearshore exhibit is coming along! This is a large piece of the fallen “driftwood” tree that will stretch across most of the new exhibit, allowing the birds to roam a larger space and perch right over your head! The newly renovated space will be open Spring 2014.
Teacher Workshops at the Aquarium are a unique and exciting experience, and are sure to inspire new ideas and classroom exercises. Be sure to reserve your spot soon!
On Saturday, December 14, the Texas State Aquarium will introduce Scuba Santa to guests who visit the “Diver in the Water” presentation. After Santa hands out goodies to the fish and other Flower Gardens residents, he will be available to take photos with guests who want to appear as if they are underwater with Scuba Santa!
Scuba Santa will be appearing during the “Diver in the Water” presentation the week leading up to Christmas, from December 14th through the 24th. The “Diver in the Water” show occurs at 11:00 a.m. daily.
The Texas State Aquarium will close early at 2:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, will be closed on Christmas Day, and will reopen on December 26th at 9:00 a.m.”
It’s a Piranha!
Did you know?
The Red-Bellied Piranha is often thought of as aggressive and ferocious, because of their sharp teeth and feeding frenzies (when a large group of Piranhas join together to strip a large item of prey within minutes). However, this behavior is not common, and is usually a result of starvation or provocation.
You can find Red-Bellied Piranhas in the Texas State Aquarium’s Amazon exhibit!
Information gathered from sources including Arkive.org.
The “Creepy” Creature is a Tarantula! It is in the bottom left of the facebook photo.
Kai is a male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin that was born in October 1994 at the Brookfield Zoo. “Kai” is a Hawaiian word that means “spirit of the sea.” He weighs over 420 pounds!
This is the White Ibis!
This is a Sea Turtle!
The five sea turtle species that are found in the gulf are the Loggerhead, Hawksbill, Kemp’s Ridley, Green, and Leatherback.
Did you know? Male Kemp’s Ridleys never come ashore. Female Kemp’s Ridleys only come ashore during nesting season: April-July.
A Kemp’s Ridley nest may have around 100 eggs. Females may lay 9 nests in a season. The temperature inside the nest determines male or female hatchlings!
The Texas State Aquarium is an official home for rehabilitated sea turtles. We provide care for sea turtles that cannot be released. Our education programs help you discover ways to make the oceans safer for all marine life.
Each positive action we take for wildlife helps us too!
You can leave the beach cleaner than when you got there. Help pick up and “pitch in” to keep sea turtles and other marine life from eating trash.
The Current 