from Jeff Williams:
Welcome to the future, and Florida Aquarium's brand spankin' new beta volunteer electronic newsletter.  The plan is to have this newsletter in working form by the beginning of January.

To save download time I've kept it simple, and included links to each photo instead of actually including the photos on the page. That way, if you already know what the critter looks like - just ignore the link. If you DO want to see the critter, click on the appropriate link (which will be the animal's name underlined) to view it. Photos will be larger in subsequent newsletters.

As for format, Jennifer Henriksen's Volunteer Hotline will be at the top of the page, followed by Billy Graham's FLAq updates and other items. Anything else you'd like to see in the newsletter? Click here to send me an e-mail.

Volunteer Updates
from Jennifer Henriksen

Happy Holidays Volunteers!
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Be on the watch as we hit the media strong this month with our Prince of the Air Holiday Extravaganza! World famous wire walker, Jay Cochrane, will climb from the Aquarium dome to Tampa's Tallest Lighted Christmas Tree (140 ft high). This Friday and Saturday, December 15 & 16, performances are at 3pm. Sunday December 17th through Saturday, December 23rd performances will be at 6pm.

The Aquarium will offer extended hours until 7pm these nights with $5 admission after 5pm. Be sure to bring a scarf or hat with you and get 2-for-1 admission after $5. Donations go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Share this information with your friends and neighbors. Let's all do our part to help boost attendance during the holiday season.
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If you have company in town over the holidays, this is just a friendly reminder to you that you have the Green Letter as one of your benefits for volunteering. Take advantage of this benefit and enjoy the attractions around the state when you have out-of-town guests. Remember that there is a limit of 4 people, and please allow two weeks to process your request. So all Holiday requests should be in by next Wednesday, to get them in time for the holiday week.
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Just a reminder that you have one more week to get your donations in for the Annual Holiday Food and Toy Drive. Information about the drive is available in the Volunteer Staff Lounge, but basically we are accepting new, unwrapped toys for infants, preschool and teen-aged children. Food items can include anything non-perishable. Drop off your donations at the Volunteer office in the big white bin the next time you're in. Our delivery date is next Tuesday, December 19th so please don't delay.
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Your gift shop discount has been raised to 35% from now until December 23rd, so get that holiday shopping done now. No extensions will be offered this year and there's LOTS of goodies for those hard to shop for people on your list. After December 23rd, your discount returns to 30% off all items.
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Our birds are requesting a few things for Christmas this year if you can help out. The list includes the following: Old towels (any size), Kleenex boxes, shoe boxes, large cardboard tubes, paper lunch bags, shower curtain rings, Popsicle or craft sticks, pine cones and tennis balls.
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The Volunteer office will be closed the week of December 25th. Gwen will be in the office on Tuesday, December 26th, should you have administrative needs.
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We have a new volunteer training class starting up on January 30th. We are looking for a few people to help out Jen with leading these training classes. If you are available on any of the following nights, please contact Jennifer.

Tuesday, January 9th (orientation), Tuesday, January 16th (orientation), Tuesday, January 30th, (training class #1) Tuesday, February 6th, (training class #2) or Tuesday February 13th (training class #3)
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We are still looking for a few good volunteers to help out at the reception desk when Margaret's on vacation. We're looking for people with good customer service skills and that are comfortable on the phone. A cheerful disposition is also a plus! If this sounds like something you're interested in, please call Bill at 273-4146 for more information.
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The Volunteer Staff Meeting dates for next year are now available. Copies are available at the touch screen counter in the lounge. Our next meeting date will be Tuesday, February 20th, 2001.
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We have a BUNCH of special events coming up and we could use your help! There's quite a few so have your pens ready. Remember that we are without an events coordinator at present, so any help is appreciated! All of the events listed are evening events, but start times vary. Please call Don Bentz at 273-4155 to work any of the following events:

Again to sign up to work any of these events, please call Don at 273-4155. Volunteers should plan to be here 30 minutes before the event start time. Thank you in advance for helping out through our busiest season.
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Currently there are NO OPENINGS for Husbandry Volunteers…
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If you are interested in applying for Animal Handling, please check the show availability chart in the lounge and complete a husbandry application. All two weeks for the Animal programs team to respond to you.
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Anyone interested in joining the new events team, please call Cindy for more information at 273-4040. The team will be called 'Event Ambassadors' and will work off-site events as they are hand selected. This will include the State Fair in 2001. More information will be coming soon on working the State Fair.
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That's it for this week. Happy Holidays everyone! And don't forget to bring in your Food & Toy donations by next Tuesday.

from Linda Shear:
Good change in legislation re: shark finning.

"Fiona's Shark Mania: What's New on the Site"

http://mindit.netmind.com/go/1/23048021/8137561/190/1

See you around the Aquarium.

WEEKLY UPDATES
from Billy Graham
In case you missed the holiday party, don't miss another one. It was really great and the food was plentiful and scrumptuous. Thanks to our HR team (Bill, Angie, and Will) everyone enjoyed the games, food and socializing.

The chinchillas are now out of quarantine and will soon be seen in our animal programs.  The Turaco (OK, it's a bird, in case you don't know) is still in Q1 and will be out soon.

Last week I talked about the human benefit from the horseshoe crab (LAL), but did you know that the Chilean red legged tarantula also provides a helpful serum that might some day help treat people suffering from congestive heart failure (instead of giving you heart failure when you see them)?

The venom of our Chilean species has a component in the venom that effects cell membranes in a beneficial way. Cells swell during congestive heart failure, and the toxin from the tarantula interferes with this process according to the tests performed with the toxin. During these tests (done by the State University of New York in Buffalo) the scientists did not actually handle the spiders, so they didn't have to worry about being bit.

The toxin was purchased from Spider Pharm Industries in Arizona, which raises tarantula colonies, milks the venom and sells it to research laboratories.

Scorpions do not have the same effect on nerve impulses, only the Chilean Rose Haired tarantula (the ones like you do the animal programs with).  So that's another interesting fact about our animals here in the aquarium.

The red fish are on their way to the east coast, in case you miss them all lining up along the acrylic for their feeding..Some other small fish will replace them.  Also the Nutrias are off the exhibit temporarily.

We are always adding info about our gators so that we can inform the public more when they ask, since gators are a topic of conversation among our visitors.  The American alligator is the closest thing we have to a living dinosaur. 

The Tyrannosaurus and its ilk died out some 65 million years ago, but the alligator has thrived and adapted to the modern world.  Today they are  much smaller than their ancestors, which stretched 36 feet from snout to tail.  As we all know they can live up to 50 years, even longer in captivity.

American alligators tend to cluster in groups for years after hatching, and a new generation joins the family each breeding season. Crocodiles, on the other hand, usually leave the colony when they are a couple of years old, seeking out new territories.

The yellow bands we see on our gators fade as the animals grow, turning the gator all dark by their seventh or eighth year (about the same time they begin to reproduce). Its cold blooded metabolism is spectacularly efficient.  Over a year, a 180 pound alligator's total intake of calories will be one percent that of a human the same size (wish I could do that!!).

Some people have asked what kind of eel is in the bubble in the bays and beaches with the batfish.  It's a sharp-tailed eel, a member of the snake eel family. It is usually out where people can see it, and more guests have been asking what it is [see Jeff's notes below].

You may have noticed that the eels have been taken out of our reef mysteries exhibit.   They were getting too big for the holes that were provided for them in the exhibit.  They are now in quarantine, until somewhere else can be found to put them.More horn shark eggs are in the touch pool, again not fertile.

May all of you have a happy holiday season..and a great new year!!

William Arthur Ward once said "When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves"- a great new year thought.  And the SSS - I have learned that I can't choose how I feel, but can choose what I do about it!!

from Jeff Williams:
The sharptail eel is a nighttime predator, which is why you'll typically see it buried in the sand in its well-lighted exhibit at the aquarium - it's hiding. Proper lighting, by the way, is another factor to consider when placing nocturnal critters, like the octopus and the sharptail, in exhibits for optimal display.

This particular eel can "swim"  under the sand when fleeing danger.

Like other eels, the sharptail also occasionally feeds with groupers (and sometimes other predator fish) in a behavior known as nuclear hunting, a strategy which benefits both fish. An eel will leave a coral head after waiting for a grouper (sometimes MANY groupers) to join it. They then dash off to another coral head. 

The groupers hang around while the eel probes the corals' nooks and crannies,  and will make a grab at what the eel flushes out. The eel, meanwhile, benefits because small fish become trapped between the eel and the  groupers waiting at hole  entrances, making it easier for the eel to catch a meal.

On to another subject - animal intelligence. I saw an amazing video last night of a green heron hunting for fish (I think we still have one in the wetlands,don't we?). The heron noticed that small fishes are attracted to bread crumbs, so he'd snatch up pieces of bread which some people were apparently throwing out to the fish.  He then placed a crumb in the water by the shore and waited, pouncing on each fish as it approached the "bait". If no fish appeared he'd pick the crumb up and place it somewhere more productive.

Not all herons think the same way. I've observed other herons which seemed totally inept at hunting. It's apparently not all instinct. The heron in the video will surely pass on some interesting genes.