Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Newport Aquarium Biologist Shares Expertise across the Globe
Contributed By Jill Isaacs | Newport Aquarium
 |
| Sue Schmid, shown here with one of the Aquarium's gentoo penguins, returned from New Zealand in mid-September. |
Newport, Ky. – Sue Schmid loves birds. In her three years at the Newport Aquarium as a Senior Aquatic Biologist, she has worked extensively with the Aquarium’s King and Gentoo penguins, as well as ten species of free-flying lories and lorikeets that routinely interact with Aquarium guests. Sue works with the animals and monitors them and their living environment to ensure that they are healthy and happy.
But Schmid’s love for penguins reaches far beyond her work in Newport. She recently returned from a three-week trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, where she volunteered her time to help create an exhibit that replicates the natural habitat for Little Blue penguins at the International Antarctic Centre (IAC).
Richard Benton, the director of the IAC, recently visited several American zoos and aquariums to get inspiration from other penguin exhibits. After meeting with Schmid, Benton asked her to come to New Zealand to share her experience working with penguins with the IAC.
While at the IAC, Schmid worked with the construction team on the exhibit and did the rock work and all of the plantings for the display, which is the first ever indoor/outdoor penguin exhibit in New Zealand. The exhibit is unique because the penguins can actually be seen inside their underground burrows, thanks to a design that includes strategically placed windows that allow visitors to watch the birds, even when they’re in their nest boxes.
Many penguin species, including the Little Blue penguin, occur naturally in New Zealand. However, because Little penguins are nocturnal, locals rarely get to see the birds in action, and therefore have a limited understanding of them, Schmid said.
While the IAC is helping people to gain a better understanding of Little penguins, it is also helping the 18 birds in its exhibit to survive. The penguins housed at the IAC are all “rehab birds” that have been injured in some way. One of the birds has a bad flipper, and one is blind in one eye. “These are birds that wouldn’t make it in the wild,” Schmid said.
Although Schmid spent most of her three-week trip working diligently at the IAC, she also found some time to enjoy the sights of New Zealand. “It’s beautiful. I can’t wait to go back,” Schmid said.
The International Antarctic Centre was built in 1992 and today attracts over 200,000 visitors a year. It has twice been judged the best attraction in New Zealand with a 35% market share of all visitors to the region who choose to visit a paying attraction.
The Newport Aquarium showcases thousands of animals from around the world in a million gallons of water, including the enormously popular “Sweet Pea,” one of the only shark rays in the world. Named the No. 1 aquarium in the Midwest in the Zagat Survey’s U.S. Family Travel Guide in 2004, this state-of-the-art facility is open to the public 365 days a year. Like its sister aquarium, Adventure Aquarium, on the Camden Waterfront, Camden, NJ, Newport Aquarium is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), a leader in global wildlife conservation. Located only two minutes from downtown Cincinnati at Newport on the Levee. For more information visit newportaquarium.com or call 859-261-7444.
# # # |
Serandida SS