Vancouver Aquarium - Animals at The Aquarium

Animals At The Aquarium

The Vancouver Aquarium currently houses around 300 species of fish, almost 30,000 invertebrates, and 56 species of amphibians and reptiles. They also have around 60 mammals and birds.

Currently, the Aquarium houses two Pacific White-Sided Dolphins:

• Hana is a 14 year old female dolphin at the Aquarium. She came to the Aquarium with Helen from the Enoshima Aquarium in Japan in 2005 after being rescued from entanglement in a fishing net. She is identified through the fact that her dorsal fin is the most triangular of all the dolphins at the Aquarium.
• Helen is a 21 year old female dolphin at the Aquarium. She came to the Aquarium with Hana from the Enoshima Aquarium, and was also rescued from entanglement in a fishing net. Helen was part of a multi-year and multi-facility research project focusing on metabolic studies while she was at the Enoshima Aquarium, and is part of a pilot project to understand whale echolocation abilities to prevent whales in the future from becoming entangled in fishing nets. She is distinguishable by the fact that her pectoral flippers are partially amputated due to damage from her entanglement, and that her dorsal fin is the most hook shaped of the two.

The Aquarium also houses two beluga whales:

• Kavna was estimated to be around 46 years of age at the time of her death. She was distinguishable from the other belugas by the fact that she was the whitest, due to her age. She gave birth at Vancouver Aquarium to a male calf named "Tuaq" however he died around 4 weeks later.
• Aurora is a female beluga and is around 21 years of age. She gave birth first to Qila, Tuvaq (who died in 2005) and recently Nala, who died on June 21 at around 10:15 pm due to coins and foreign matter found in her respiratory tract. "Aurora" is named after the famous northern light Aurora borealis.
• Qila is a female beluga born at the aquarium to mother Aurora and father Nanuq on July 23, 1995. She is the first beluga to be conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium, and is also the first beluga conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium to give birth to a calf. "Qila" means "beluga" in Inuktitut. She gave birth to her first calf Tiqa, who died of heart failure on September 16, 2011. Tiqa's name stands for T-Tuesday, I-Imaq, Q-Qila and A-aurora.

On breeding loan to SeaWorld are the following:

• Nanuq, a male beluga who is around 24 years old. Nanuq is Qila's father and is on breeding loan to SeaWorld since July 1997.
• Allua, a female beluga is around 24 years of age. She was moved to SeaWorld San Diego on a breeding loan in 2005.
• Imaq, a male beluga who is around 21 years of age. He is on breeding loan to SeaWorld San Antonio for around 5 years due to the aquarium's renovation. Imaq fathered "Tuvaq", "Tiqa", and "Nala", all of which died.

The Aquarium is home to two sea otters:

• Tanu is a 4 year old female who was abandoned as a pup, rescued by the Alaska SeaLife Center and later moved to the Aquarium.
• Elfin is a 7 year old male who was abandoned as a pup, was rescued by the Alaska SeaLife Center and later moved to the Aquarium.

While the Aquarium rescues and releases many seals, those that are deemed to be unreleasable may end up at the Aquarium. The Aquarium is home to three such harbour seals at this time, all of which are male (Apollo, DaVinci, and Hermes).

The Aquarium also houses 6 Northern Fur Seals (Meechi, Tikva, Tuku, Kyoo, Aya, and Ani), and four female Steller sea lions (Willo, Ashby, Rogue, and Izzy). The sea lions actually belong to the University of British Columbia, and are part of a research program aimed at studying the causes for the collapse of the Steller sea lion population in Alaska.

At an off-site research facility, an additional 4 Steller sea lions are kept as part of an open-water research program. They are Hazy, Sitka, Boni, and Yasha.

On July 1, 2008, Tag, a 15 year old male sea lion, died due to oral cancer, despite receiving laser surgery and chemotherapy. Tag was a 15 year old male sea lion who arrived at the Aquarium as a 2 week old pup.

On July 29, 2009, another such animal was transferred from their Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. Daisy, a harbour porpoise, after receiving almost a year of veterinary care and being deemed unreleasable, now inhabits the Aquarium's B.C. Sugar pool with Jack. They are the only two harbour porpoise currently in captivity in North America.