When the Shedd Aquarium opened its giant marine mammal pavilion, the Oceanarium, its chief trainer promised the public would have front-row seats to the drama of life in whale and dolphin society.
Now gearing up for its 10th anniversary celebration, the Oceanarium, still the world’s largest indoor marine mammal facility, has proved Ken Ramirez true to his word.
Few public institutions in the city’s history have captured the imagination and emotions of the public in quite the way the Oceanarium has.
Millions have watched in fascination as the Shedd’s young beluga whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins have grown up. Two baby belugas born there, Kayavak, 1 1/2 years old, and Qannik, 6 months, are the Shedd’s biggest attractions.
At the same time, there has been heartache. Two adult dolphins and three adult whales have died there, as did a dolphin calf and two whale calves.
Far from decreasing attendance, however, those wrenching setbacks seem to have cemented the public’s empathy for the Shedd and its animals.
Hands down, the aquarium was the most popular paid-admission museum or zoo in the Chicago area over the last decade, with 18.5 million visitors.
“Best of all, 3.5 million of them have been children coming here with school groups,” Shedd President Ted Beattie said Wednesday during a preview of the anniversary celebration. “We think we are giving them some extraordinary lessons about the lives of these animals and the importance of conserving their environment in the wild.”
Much of the yearlong observance is designed to underscore advances in marine science, conservation and education that have originated at the Oceanarium since it debuted in April 1991.
“Ten years ago, when the Oceanarium opened,” said Jeff Boehm, the Shedd’s vice president of research and veterinary services, “it opened so many doors for us into research and conservation. We didn’t even have a conservation department 10 years ago; now we have one with a staff of eight people.
“We do in-house breeding research, field research programs and public advocacy on behalf of wild animals.”
Under Boehm, the Shedd has brought in scientists who have used its belugas, dolphins and sea otters to research their immune systems and cetacean echolocation, hearing and vocalizations.
The beluga whales have been used to test prototypes of safe identification tags and noise-making devices to warn whales and dolphins away from deadly fishing nets.
The Shedd also has brought together researchers looking at an array of problems facing marine life, from disappearing seahorse populations to a bacteria called erysipelas that kills dolphins and whales in the wild and in captivity.
Under Ramirez, the Shedd has become a leader in the training of marine mammals, perfecting a non-coercive method of animal teaching. Known as operant conditioning, which uses affection and food to reward animals for good behavior. Last year, Ramirez published “Animal Training,” a book now used in zoos and aquariums worldwide.
Last month, the Shedd suspended its daily program of dolphin demonstrations in its main, 2 million-gallon pool. Instead, visitors have been watching training sessions in the big pool as dolphins and belugas are being trained for a new show.
“Our old presentation mostly focused on why training is important for our animals,” Ramirez said. “Our public training sessions right now show people how we build relationships with each of our animals. On April 27, we open a brand-new presentation that is built around all that we have learned in the last decade about these animals.
“It is going to be less a natural history lecture … and more of a fun, lighter approach revolving around what each person can do to make a difference in the well-being of animals.”
During the anniversary observance, Shedd also will offer some public tours of back rooms normally off limits to Oceanarium visitors.
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From Feb. 9 to 23, for example, visitors will be able to see the kitchens where animal food is prepared and the medical and training pool where dolphins and whales are tended to day-to-day.
“When we opened the Oceanarium,” Ramirez said, “we knew we were going in a new direction, where the public would be right there, watching as our animals grew and matured and our programs developed. Now we’ve had some mileage and we can look back and see some progress, so this anniversary seemed a good time to share what we have learned and how we’ve done it.”