This is a giant Pacific octopus, also called North Pacific giant octopus. I saw this one at SeaWorld in the Manta Aquarium exhibit. This giant Pacific octopus is sleeping. Shhhh! I can tell it is sleeping because its eyes are closed.
The giant Pacific octopus is the largest octopus. Adults usually weigh about 30 pounds, but the largest one discovered weighed 156 pounds. Their arm span is usually about 14 feet. It can change the color of its skin to blend in with the things around it and hide. They eat shrimp, crabs, scallops, abalone, clams, and fish. Sometimes they eat spiny dogfish, which is a shark. Harbor seals, sea otters, sperm whales, and people eat these octopuses. Octopuses are mollusks, just like my gold Inca snails.
This is an American white ibis. I really like its red curved bill. It is related to the scarlet ibis. I saw both of those birds at SeaWorld. The white ibis was not in an exhibit, but it just flew around the park wild and sometimes landed in other animals’ cages. They live in Florida and along the gulf coast and east coast of the United States. It is a carnivore that eats fish, frogs, insects, and small reptiles. It has long red legs so that it can walk around in shallow water.
These are Florida manatees. The Florida manatee is a subspecies of West Indian manatee, which live in South America, Central America, Florida, Cuba, the Caribbean Sea, and the east coast of the United States.
Manatees are not fish. They are marine mammals, which are mammals that live in the water. Whales and dolphins are also marine mammals.
These manatees were my favorite animal at SeaWorld. They were at an exhibit called Manatee Rescue with alligator gars. They are endangered, and I don’t get to see them much, so I was happy to see them. Their biggest problem is getting hit by motor boats. I like their flat tail. They look fat, but they’re not fat.
At SeaWorld I went on a behind-the-scenes tour, and one of the things I saw was this rescued baby manatee. Her name is Trixie. This baby manatee does not have a mother. Someone rescued her and brought her to SeaWorld to take care of her. She is not in the manatee exhibit. They feed her milk from a bottle every 3 hours. They are also just starting to give her romaine lettuce to eat.
I went to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida last Friday! I went with my mom. I had a lot of fun. I got to see lots of animals. We took lots of pictures, and I have a lot of stories to tell, so there will be lots of new blog posts coming soon!
This is a picture of me and Shamu. Shamu is a killer whale, also called orca or blackfish. Shamu was very friendly. When she saw my mom’s Green Bay Packers backpack, she pointed to it with her fins, then pumped her fins in the air like she was saying, “Go Pack Go!” My mommy said, “Hmmm. Maybe Shamu is secretly from Wisconsin.” Killer whales do not live in Wisconsin.
These are cockatiels. Cockatiels are a kind of cockatoo and parrot that live in Australia. They are a very popular pet bird. We saw these birds at Petco.
You can tell how a cockatiel is feeling by looking at the crest of feathers on top of its head. If the feathers are up, the cockatiel is surprised or excited. If the feathers are down flat on its head, the bird is mad or defensive. If the feathers are in between, then they are relaxed. The ones in these pictures are a little upset because we were staring at them and taking their picture.
Cockatiels with red cheeks are grownups. The gray ones in this picture are juveniles.
Some day I hope we get a pet bird at my house. Maybe a cockatiel.
This is a blood parrot cichlid. It is also called a parrot cichlid or a bloody parrot. This fish is a hybrid cichlid, which means that it is a cross between two different kinds of cichlids: a severum and a red devil cichlid. It is not found in the wild. They don’t have a scientific name. They call it a parrot cichlid because its mouth looks like a parrot beak.
It is a freshwater warmwater fish. The adult size of this fish is 8 inches, so it is too big for the aquarium at our house. But I think it is a beautiful and interesting fish, and it is cool to look at.
Some people don’t think these should be sold in pet stores because they are artificially created. Because they are a hybrid fish, they often have some problems with their bodies that make life hard. Some of them have trouble opening their mouths to eat, and some of them have trouble swimming.
This is a sailfin tang. We saw it on Saturday at Petco while we were picking up our new gold Inca snails. One of the neat things about this fish is that he can put his fins up and down like sails. In this picture, his fins are up.
Sailfin tangs are saltwater fish. They live in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. The aquarium at my house is freshwater warmwater, but someday I hope we get a saltwater tank.
On the picture you can see some other fish in the next tank. But I don’t know what kind of fish they are. If you have any ideas on what the fish are, please leave a comment.
I got two new pets for my fish tank! They are gold Inca snails. The bigger one that you can see above is named Golden. The smaller one in the picture below is named Little Golden. I got them Saturday night.
Snails are great. They eat algae so they will help clean our tank. Our plecostomus died, so our tank is getting a little dirty. They should find plenty of algae to eat in our tank, but we can also give them algae pellets.
My snails are a gold color, which is one of the Green Bay Packers colors. They like to hang out near our green plant, so I’m pretty sure they are Packer fans. They will be cheering for the Packers in the Super Bowl.
From what I’ve seen of Golden and Little Golden so far, I think they are nocturnal. They move around a lot more around bedtime. Gold Inca snails are native to South America.
Snails are in a group of animals called mollusks. They are related to slugs. They are in a group of mollusks called gastropods. “Gastro” means stomach, and “pod” means foot, so gastropods use their stomach for a foot! The bottom of a snail that sticks out of their shell and that it walks on is called its foot.
Yesterday, Golden climbed up the glass on the aquarium. We took a picture of the bottom of his foot. After we took this picture, Golden got scared of our camera, let go of the glass, and floated down to the bottom of the tank.
My snails are a lot of fun to watch. They move very slowly, but they do move around. We made a video of Golden walking across the bottom of the tank. At one point you can see him open his mouth.
This is a tomato frog. It is also called a Madagascar red frog. Tomato frogs live in eastern Madagascar, which is an island next to Africa. They are called tomato frogs because they look like a tomato. The tadpoles and young frogs aren’t red, but they get bright red when they are adults. Females grow to be about 4 inches long, and males only grow to be 2 or 3 inches long. They are nocturnal, and they eat insects. Tomato frogs are common pets.
When an animal grabs a tomato frog in its mouth, the frog makes a thick liquid that gets in the animal’s eyes and mouth. The animal then drops the frog so it can get away.
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