These animals eat better than a lot of people I know. That doesn't count the salaries of the marine biologists, aviculturists and herpetologists who prepare the food and care for the animals. And it doesn't include the manhours put in by the aquarium's 60 volunteers who help them. On Tuesday morning, marine biologist Rachel Metz prepared a meal of smelt, ground beef, clams, grapes, carrots and hardboiled eggs for Ashley, Cooper and Edisto - the aquarium's popular river otters. Metz, one of 18 specialists employed by the aquarium, changes the otters' menu daily to keep the animals interested and healthy.
Some days smelt is the fish of the day, on others it's herring.
Some days Metz treats the otters to yogurt. And on others, if the otters are really lucky, they get fishsicles - blocks of ice with fish in them. After preparing their meal, Metz hides it in their area so the otters can search for their food. The aquarium's other animals receive similar treatment. Its birds consume up to 16 pounds of apples and carrots each week, as well as large quantities of bananas, oranges, grapes, blueberries, eggs, worms and seeds.