– all photos courtesy of sheddaquarium.org
Look at our girl, growing up so fast! The above photo is from December, 2014; “Pearl”, as I affectionately named this little gem, has now been given an official name. I would like to introduce you to, “Luna”. The name was chosen to correspond with the location at which she was found by a passerby who heard her little cries at only one week old. “Half-Moon Bay”, California is Luna’s birthplace.
When this photo was taken in December, Luna weighed 12 pounds; quite the leap from a mere 2 pounds when she was found back in October, 2014. Our baby sea otter spent her first few weeks at the Monterey (California) Aquarium, which was followed by a trip to her new home at the Shedd Aquarium here in Chicago.
As a recap, this is what Luna looked like when she first arrived at the Shedd (all 5 pounds of her):
Here she is in November, 2014:
She is growing and has learned to dive. Luna recently discovered the pouches under her arms, which sea otters use to hold rocks to perhaps break open some lunch; I mean, a clamshell or two. Here is a recent photo of her holding something rather curious:
Can you see what she has in her paws? It’s an ice cube! Apparently this is her new favorite treat!
Our girl has lost her baby sea otter fur:
I shall keep you up-to-date on, “Luna”, but she will always be, “Pearl” to me!
The Chicago Files 