The public can now say "hi" to Tofino in person.
The rescued sea otter pup moved into the Vancouver Aquarium, her new permanent home, on Sunday, Aug. 18, and is in a tank viewable by the public. Lucky guests could first visit her as of Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Luna, the second sea otter pup rescued this summer, has also moved to the aquarium. It will be her permanent home, too, but she's staying in a private tank for now.
Tofino, now around two months old, is essentially an otter toddler, learning about otter life and being trained by the aquarium staff.
"It's very exciting having a new pup at the aquarium. It's exciting for guests and it's exciting for Tofino," says Jessica Debenedetto, the assistant curator of marine mammals. "She gets to explore a whole new area and get to play and get to know more of her training."
Currently, she's got the entire tank to herself, but other otters are nearby.
"Tofino only moved here a couple of days ago so she's still adjusting to her new environment and getting the lay of the land," says Debenedetto. "When she's a little bit bigger and her training is a little bit stronger we'll start to introduce her to our other otters."
She has gotten to see and smell the other otters though, as they share a sort of lobby between the tanks with glass separating the areas.
She's currently 7 kg, almost triple the weight she was when she arrived at the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.
While she's still partially feeding from a bottle, she's also eating some seafood, mostly chunks of clam with some fish mixed in. On Tuesday, she started getting some squid.
"With all of our sea otter pups once they get a taste of that solid food that's what they get crazy for," says Debenedetto.
Ice cubes and shoelaces are also some of her favourite things.
Training at this time is fairly simple, including learning her name and following the trainers.
Tofino will be in the public tank for the foreseeable future. The Vancouver Aquarium is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, though hours are subject to change.
