Texas State Aquarium Animals to Receive Valentine’s “Gifts”
February 13, 2018
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – Plenty of people can expect to get Valentine’s gifts from that special someone tomorrow, and at the Aquarium, the animal residents will also be feeling the love. To mark the most romantic day of the year, the Texas State Aquarium’s wildlife will be treated to Valentine’s-themed enrichment, and guests can help share their love for these amazing animals by making them a personalized Valentine’s card.
From 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Art, Mathematics) crafting table will be available in the Aquarium lobby with all of the materials needed to make a few of the Aquarium’s bird and mammals species a Valentine’s card. Guests can customize a paper valentine for animal residents like eagles Grace and Bonnie, macaws Kogi and Zeppo, great horned owl Chance, prehensile-tailed porcupine Chiquita, white-nosed coati Sonora and African serval Kimani. Pictures of each animal will be on display to show younger guests which animals will receive these Valentine’s cards, while staff will be on hand to help as needed.
Guests are also invited to see the other Aquarium’s animals receive Valentine’s-themed gifts throughout the day. Instead of flowers or chocolates, the Aquarium’s dolphins, otters, sea turtles and others will receive fish, vegetables, paper, ice and red-dyed gelatin as part of enrichment activities designed to keep them mentally and physically active and encourage natural behavior. Rehabilitated sea turtles will be given heart-shaped enrichment surprises at the 1:00 p.m. presentation at Tortuga Cay, while otters Merlin and Arrie will also dig into their own Valentine’s themed enrichment at the otter presentation at 1:30 p.m. Shadow, Kai, Liko and Schooner, the Aquarium’s bottlenose dolphins, will enjoy Valentine’s treats at 2:30 p.m. Grace the bald eagle and Bonnie the golden eagle will also receive Valentine’s decorations in the Eagle Pass exhibit as enrichment.
While the Aquarium will close to the public at 5 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, a now sold-out Valentine’s Dinner will be held after-hours in the Aquarium’s aquatic exhibits including Caribbean Journey’s new H-E-B Caribbean Sea.
Media is invited to visit throughout the day to capture footage of these exciting enrichment opportunities.
The Texas State Aquarium is open daily. For advance tickets and more information logon to texasstateaquarium.org.