Celebrating New & Old Life at Butterfly Pavilion
March 11, 2020 · Blog
Celebrating New & Old Life at Butterfly Pavilion
This month at Butterfly Pavilion we are excited to announce the arrival of several new animals in our Rocky Shore Touch Tank! We have 3 large black sea hares, 3 giant-spined sea stars and 1 California sea hare. The black sea hares, a type of sea slug, are the largest species of sea slug in the world and are the most amazing texture. Swing by Water’s Edge and give ‘em a feel – we promise you won’t regret it. Also, one of the new giant spined sea stars has a leg span of at least two feet which is definitely something you can’t miss!
On a sadder note, we announce the passing of our beloved day octopus, Ininko Montoya. Ininko joined our family here at Butterfly Pavilion in August and has been the highlight of our Water’s Edge exhibit ever since. Ininko was always filled to the brim with an unstoppable curiosity that brought a smile to the face of all who had the opportunity to know him. Ininko’s engaging personality made it easy for our staff, volunteers, and guests to fall in love with this amazing animal. One of his favorite pastimes was silently judging people from the cave he created next to the glass, if he wasn’t following guests around his habitat. It could also be tough to scrub the algae in Ininko’s tank because he loved to grab onto new things. We often had to trade with him to get our cleaning tools back.
Whenever Butterfly Pavilion has an animal join our collection, they become ambassadors for their species. These animals help us to show the important interconnectedness we have with invertebrates all over the world, big and small. Few were better at this than Ininko. When Ininko joined our team we knew that his time with us would be short. Most species of tropical octopuses have a finite lifespan of only 1-2 years. At his passing Ininko was found to be a sexually mature adult male, which shows he was at the end of his lifespan. While we wish we could have had more time with him, we are very grateful we were able to have such a special animal live with us and he will be truly missed by staff and guests alike.
