Keep friends close, anemonies closer.

Because we only have 2 pups in the stranding department, I am getting cross trained for the time being, which means I just spent a week working in aquarium! I sincerely didn't know a thing about aquariums, and I'm not squidin'! Some would rather not help out in aquariums, but that's just shellfish! These aquarium jokes are kraken me up. (That's it, I'm sorry).

I started out each day by washing the windows to all of the aquarium exhibits. Many people don't realize how much cleaning goes in to working in an animal facility. A majority of your day is spent cleaning. I spent most of the week doing whatever aquarium needed me to, which is exactly what I why I was there. I got covered in salt water which left terrible stains (that washed out) and one day I had pieces of krill on all items of clothing I was wearing. It's a messy job.

I did get the opportunity to have an octopus encounter while I was in aquarium! I had just come from food prep, so my hands smelled like squid. Octopus taste with their suckers, which helps them hunt and distinguish a rock from a crab shell. Because my hands were so delicious, Egg the octopus, really liked me... a lot. Just one of their larger suckers can hold up to 15 pounds!

I also got introduced to my new favorite thing: PLANKTON TOWS! A plankton tow is when we go out onto the dock by the SeaLife Center and put out a 10 foot net with a long rope attached, in order to catch plankton. These were my favorite things to do because I learned a lot about copepods and got to be outside to see wildlife and enjoy the beautiful Alaskan weather and scenery.

Brynn emptying out our bounty from our plankton tow

Sea otter relaxing by the dock

I learned so much during my week in aquarium, and I really enjoyed it! I am very fortunate to be able to get cross-trained during my time at the Alaska SeaLife Center. Any experience is good experience!

xoxo,

Jules

Resurrection Bay Cruise

Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to go on a 4-hour cruise around Resurrection Bay for free. The Alaska SeaLife Center has established partnerships with local businesses in Seward, AK, which enables the employees to benefit from discounts and promotions. Some of my friends and I took advantage of this opportunity and got to go on the Kenai Fjords Boat Tour.

The Resurrection Bay Tour map, photo credit: Kenai Fjords Tours

Boarding pass for Kenai Fjords Tour

The day started out like most of my days in Seward: spotting sea otters in the water. We whale watched for a majority of the trip, and it was about 39 degrees and raining, so only the brave stayed on the bow of the boat! (I did)

Whale patrol on the bow of the boat

We stopped at Fox Island for lunch, where we had an all-you-can-eat buffet of salmon and prime rib. I scarfed down my food so I could go out and explore! We played on the beach until it was time to go back on the boat. 

Once we got back on the boat, we cruised around until we saw a group of harbor seals hauled out on the coast of another island. It was amazing to see harbor seals in the wild! Shortly after, we saw a pod of orcas! It was incredible! A video can be found on my Instagram: julieahodgin

Even though we had to brave the elements, we had an incredible time on Resurrection Bay. I will soon be going on an 8.5 hour cruise to visit some glaciers, and I will be sure to blog about it afterward!

xoxo,

Jules

Instagram: julieahodgin

Covered in Fish and Glitter

I have just finished my first week of work at the Alaska SeaLife Center! I started out on Wednesday in the stranding department, where I will be spending most of the summer. We already have a harbor seal pup in our care, her name is Silky. 

Photo credit: Alaska SeaLife Center

During our workday, we received another harbor seal pup! She came in weighing 7.7 pounds and was about the size of a month old baby. Dr. Kathy Woodie came to do a physical assessment. Usually in stranding, you keep your conversations to a minimum so the pups don't get used to human voices, which helps them keep a distance from humans once they get released back in the wild. Since this pup has been in human care all day already, she wanted to make this a learning opportunity for us, so she told us exactly what she's looking for and checking as she is doing it. She let us feel for a follicle near the umbilical cord. 

Since we only have two pups in the stranding department, I am getting cross trained in several departments for a few weeks. I spent the last two days in marine mammal husbandry, which is what I have the most experience in. I began the day by stuffing medicine, vitamins, and glitter pills in fish for the animals. We collect fecal samples and send them to our lab to assess hormone levels. The steller sea lions get glitter pills in their food in order to know whose poop is whose. Each sea lion has a different color glitter to keep track of this.

I also got the opportunity of a lifetime yesterday. I got to feel the pregnant harbor seal. Atty is expecting her third harbor seal pup and could be giving birth as early as next week. Her harbor seal pup is very active inside her, and I was able to feel her belly as the pup moved around. I was smiling so much, it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. 

Atty, the pregnant harbor seal. Photo credit: Alaska SeaLife Center

Atty is also known for her beautiful paintings, which I was able to watch in action.

Later in the day, I observed another harbor seal training session with the "bachelor pad", which is all of the male harbor seals on exhibit.

I have had the most incredible first week in Alaska, and I don't think I've stopped smiling since I got here. I may be covered in fish guts and glitter, but I am the happiest girl in the world.

xoxo, 

Jules

Welcome to Alaska!

Even though I only had one hour of sleep prior to my departure, the Alaskan scenery woke me up like no other. In the last two hours of my flight to Anchorage, the snow-capped mountains filled my little airplane window. I was almost in tears, I had anticipated arriving in Alaska for so long, just to see it in person was incredible.

After about an hour at the hotel, I got picked up by a local. Ken had worked at the North Carolina Zoo before transferring to the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. He drove me to Palmer, Alaska, where we visited a reindeer farm. We had such a fun time! 

The view in Palmer, Alaska

The following morning, I woke up at 4:30AM in order to catch the train to Seward, Alaska. Seward is where I will be spending the summer, working at the Alaska SeaLife Center. The train ride to Seward was like a majestic dream. I ended up taking over 200 photos! 

Every turn was a new postcard. 

And now I have officially arrived in Seward, and start work at the Alaska SeaLife Center tomorrow!

Until next time...

 xoxo,

     Jules

Sea Turtle Hospital

Here at UNC-Greensboro, we offer a class called Biology & Conservation of Sea Turtles,  composed of 12 students committed to changing the world around them for the betterment of both sea turtles and the Earth. To kick off the semester, we volunteered at Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Island, North Carolina, and we recently returned to the Sea Turtle Hospital this week to wrap up the semester together.

After most of our class endured the wrath of Tropical Storm Ana the night before, we were all surprisingly cheerful to start work at the Sea Turtle Hospital the following morning. We were separated into groups, and I was fortunate enough to work in Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is a large wing of the hospital that houses long-term sea turtles, some with crippling conditions, such as blindness and tumors. Because of these conditions, the ability to release them is severely inhibited. We fed the turtles a variety of greens, capelin, cucumbers, and peppers, depending on the species.

 Photo credit: Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Camp

One of the turtles, Lennie, is blind. Lennie had to be fed with a great amount of patience. Lennie's squid was chopped into 1 inch pieces, and the volunteers had to feed her each piece one at a time. After feeding all of the turtles in Turtle Bay, we waited half an hour for the turtles to digest. During this time, we swept, mopped, and washed windows. What a lot of people don't understand about working in animal care is that most of your time is spent cleaning, and a clean environment is what helps these animals live and recover successfully. It is not always glamorous work!

On Wednesday, we were fortunate enough to be involved in a sea turtle necropsy. The North Carolina Sea Turtle Biologist, Matthew Godfrey came to the sea turtle hospital with a turtle that had been very ill and recently passed away. Performing a necropsy helps biologists determine the cause of death, and formulate an action plan in hopes to prevent this incident for other animals. This turtle was a juvenile Loggerhead, and once the necropsy began, and we were able to touch and feel different internal structures. We learned so much more about sea turtle biology. For those of you with weak stomachs, I'll exclude the photos!

Overall, it was an awesome trip, with many surprising twists and turns. I am so grateful to be part of this group of like-minded individuals working together for the environment.

Lanier's Campground, Surf City, NC

I will reunite with this group in August, when we travel to the birthplace of sea turtle research, Tortuguero, Costa Rica! 

Until then...

3 days until Alaska!

    xoxo,

     Jules

Welcome!

Words can't express how excited I am to start this new chapter in my life. My name is Julie, and I am a Biology student at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro. My personal career goal is to work in a zoo or aquarium setting. It all started when I was in high school, when I decided to attend the Asheboro High School Zoo School. Yes, my high school was located at the North Carolina Zoo. As a teenager who didn't really know what she wanted to be, the zoo school provided a wonderful, open atmosphere for me to figure it out. I had no idea I had found the place I was searching for.

My zoo school experience was like any other high school experience, just add outdoor classes, daily adventures in the zoo, and way more fun. Through these experiences, I began to realize how much I impacted the Earth. My carbon footprint was way more than it should have been, so I decided to start a recycling project at my church. This attracted the attention of my science teacher, who invited me to be a part of a team of 3 to compete in Project Polar Bear, a binational competition to determine which small group could decrease the most carbon emissions. We placed 2nd, which landed us a trip to Sea World San Diego and the San Diego Zoo! It was such a cool experience!

Following the trip, I won a competition through the North Carolina Zoo, which sent me to the arctic tundra of Churchill, Manitoba in the Fall of 2011, with Polar Bears International. Spending a week on the tundra, surrounded by incredible world-changers changed my life. We learned all about polar bear biology, climate change, and conservation efforts. Coming face to face with polar bears and learning about the human impacts that are harming their habitat was heartbreaking, and I knew from then on, I would spend my entire life sharing about climate change. 

Fast-forward to my freshman year of college, I was selected to intern at the North Carolina Zoo in the marine mammal department, working with harbor seals and polar bear. It was the most incredible summer of my life, and I learned so much about husbandry and training. It was truly a dream come true, and I was so fortunate to work for such amazing keepers.

So now, in just two weeks, I will be flying to Seward, Alaska to work in the marine mammal departments of the Alaska SeaLife Center. Words cannot describe how excited I am for this opportunity. Until then, I have to finish finals, volunteer for several days at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital, and pack my life into a suitcase. Keep up with me, it's going to be a WILD ride. 

    xoxo,

     Jules