Blog About Animals

I heard some very sad news yesterday whilst reading CBC News. The hands on Cownose Stingray exhibit that opened in Calgary Zoo early on in the year has just witnessed a terrible mystery tragedy. 26 Stingrays died on Sunday followed by 8 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday, from an unexplained problem that led to inflamed gills and breathing trouble. The staff have been left baffled and extremely troubled by the incident. 9 surviving Stingrays are being very closely monitored by vets and they are all exhibiting signs of black and yellow blotches, similar to blotches found on the dead rays.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/loughgc/ 2282482267/

One distinction of the Stingray is the face that its created on it’s underbelly. It really makes them look like jolly creatures! Popular theory says that this face has developed to stop predators attacking the underbelly.

It is unknown what has caused the deaths but it is unlikely to be the food, water or disease according to experts. Many people feel that someone may have actually introduced a chemical into the water to cause such quick deaths. The investigation is being conducted and everyone hoped to have an answer in the next week or so. I think you will agree this is very sad.

Calgary Zoo has had a bad year with a Gorilla dying after one day in the zoo and a 6 year old hippo also dying. I am sure that this is bad luck and I think that the zoo is probably genuinely trying to conserve and help the natural world whilst providing us with education in an entertaining environment.

According to TheStar.com Toronto Zoo are still planning on opening their new hands on Stingray exhibit this Friday. I personally am a little nervous about the press they are going to get but they have discussed everything with Calgary and I am sure will be very vigilant.

Stingrays seem to be very social with humans, responding well to touch and interaction and I am sure that there is still place in the world for such exhibits, if managed and monitored correctly. This very sad tragedy will be a great lesson and hopefully will be used for further and, as it seems, much needed education.

More about Stingrays…

After the death of Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, rays started getting a little more press. He was killed by a Stingray barb that struck right into his heart. Many agree that this was a freak accident and that generally swimming with rays is pretty safe, as long as you are respectful of them. In fact there have only been 17 recorded Stingray deaths worldwide since records started in 1969 (source: www.smh.com.au).

Wikipedia says that there are about 70 species of Stingray but I have seen variations of this with claims of their being up to 186 (If anyone knows the official amount please let me know). They are related to Sharks and Skate and bottom feed mainly on n mollusks, crustaceans, and sometimes small fish. Attacks on humans are always reactions to feeling threatened as this creatures are rearly aggressive and normally swim away from danger.

They look beautiful in the water, almost as if they are flying with what people commonly refer to as wings. In actual fact they are pectoral fins. They are known as Stingrays due to the poisonous barbs on the end of their tails which have been known to grow up to 37 cm in length. Some types of Stingray can grow up to 4.2 meters long and 1.8 meters wide. I think you will agree , that is monstrous!

Cownose Stingrays (like the ones from Calgary Zoo) are often found in the western Atlantic and Caribbean. They are very close to being threatened so we need Zoo’s to keep conserving them This makes the recent deaths even more horrific, especially if human induced. They also grow to around 1.1 meters long and feed mainly on clams, oysters and other invertebrates. They have a special plate designed for crushing hard shells in their mouths.

I have seen this stunning creatures in Aquariums as a child and have witnessed their cute curiosity and obvious intelligence. I really hope that Calgary Zoo work out the cause and create a new safe environment for the, hopefully, surviving rays. I will be writing an update as soon as their is anymore news so please subscribe to my RSS feed or by email in the box on the top right.

Recommended further reading:

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/080513/n051341A.html – CBC talks about the improvement of the surviving rays.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=
7af33ff4-921b-4cda-91d4-0d9fb76f3e10 – The Edmonton Journals take on the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray – Wikipedia’s article on Stingrays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cownose_ray – Wikipedia’s Cow Nose Stingray page.

If a Greenland shark had mastered the use of the English language and happened to believe in Greek mythology then I would image that a comment along the lines of:

“I’m Blind, thank Poseidon”

would come from it’s many toothed mouth the moment it was blinded by a little white copepod attaching itself to it’s eye.

This lazy beast lives at great depths underneath thick ice in the cold North Atlantic Ocean and grows up to a huge 7 meters long. Being such a lazy lump of muscle this slow stoner like creature really does not have the ability to catch the prey that it manages to feed on. In fact it is so docile that people have been known to lure them to the surface with seal entrails and just drag them out of the water.

Being so lazy, that’s where the Parasite comes in. Shortly after birth a small white parasite will permanently attach itself to each one of Greenland sharks eyes creating permanent blindness. Now the deep waters are so murky anyway that the shark would not be able to see very far even with the gift of sight, so it really isn’t a big loss. It is widely believed that the little white worm like creatures actually attract the sharks next meal and chomp, dinner is served. Sharks without parasites have been observed to die very quickly.

They call this kind of relationship a symbiotic relationship and it happens with sharks and many other creatures and is found constantly throughout nature. Hopefully I will find some more interesting relationships and write about them soon.

If this amazing creature interests you then I definitely suggest some further reading:
http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/english/greenland.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark

Images sourced from: http://www.fredshark.net/Classifications/squaliformes/requingroenland.htm