At the Aquarium

Babies at the Aquarium require special expertise and hands-on care, from hand-feeding baby birds from a syringe to providing round-the-clock care for baby sea otters.

Baby lorikeet being hand fed with a syringe

Credit: Aquarium of the Pacific/Robin Riggs

The Aquarium of the Pacific has helped raise many amazing babies over its twenty-four-year history. Some have been rare successes, like the birth of two zebra shark pups via artificial insemination in 2014. Some happen with great frequency, like our moon jellies, which our aquarists culture in our jelly lab on an ongoing basis.

Breeding animals at the Aquarium helps us and other aquariums we share animals with reduce our need to collect fishes and invertebrates from the wild. It also helps us learn more about the conditions animals need to reproduce, which can inform government conservation policies, particularly for endangered species.

Breeding programs and new babies at the Aquarium require special care and expertise. Whether it is hand feeding newly hatched lorikeet chicks, teaching a sea otter pup how to groom its extraordinarily thick fur, or carefully monitoring budding sea jelly ephyrae, our animal husbandry staff takes great care in helping our babies grow and thrive.