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Moody Madness: Elite 8

The Sweet Sixteen of the Moody Madness tournament saw most of the top seeds move on, with the exception of two upsets.

The Cinderella story of the tournament to determine the most popular animal at Moody Gardens continues to be the Two-Toed Sloth. After a surprise win over the Cotton-Top Tamarin, the Sloth pulled out a stunning victory over the Komodo Dragon.

Can the Sloth continue its improbably run against the Giant River Otter? Can the top-seeded White-faced Saki Monkey and King Penguin continue their march to the Final Four? That’s up to you to decide.

Click the image below to see the results from the Sweet 16 round:

MoodyMadnessBracket_Elite8_Web

 

CLICK HERE to vote or vote below for your favorites!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Moody Madness: Sweet 16

Sweet Sixteen : March 25-27

Just like the first weekend of the college basketball tournament, the first round of the Moody Madness bracket had some thrilling contests. Some of the match-ups came down to the wire in the tournament to determine the most popular animal at Moody Gardens.

Here are the results from Round 1:

MoodyMadnessBracket_Sweet16_Web

Now it’s on to the Sweet Sixteen where the competition steps up a notch. Don’t let your favorite fall short of the Elite Eight. Be sure to vote to this exciting tournament!

CLICK HERE to vote or vote below for the Rainforest Pyramid animals and make sure to click Next when you’re done at the bottom to vote for the Aquarium Pyramid animals on the second page.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

2014 Moody Madness

CLICK to download the 2014 Moody Madness Bracket

CLICK to download the 2014 Moody Madness Bracket

Our animals at Moody Gardens are big sports fans. No, really!

Over the years, we’ve had our seals, Saki Monkeys and Komodo Dragons pick the Super Bowl winners. We also have penguins named after sports stars like Biggio and Watt.

So with the NCAA Basketball tournament this week, our animals decided to have a friendly competition to find out which is the most popular.

The bracket features 16 Rainforest Pyramid and 16 Aquarium Pyramid residents. During the next three weeks, you will be able to vote for who you want to advance to the next round. In the end, one Rainforest Pyramid and one Aquarium Pyramid animal will square off to see which is the most popular at Moody Gardens.

Be sure to vote for your favorite animals at Moody Gardens!

VOTING SCHEDULE:

  • First round – March 19-24
  • Sweet Sixteen – March 25-27
  • Elite Eight  March 28-31
  • Final Four – April 1-April 3
  • Championship – April 4-7

CLICK HERE to vote or vote below for the Rainforest Pyramid animals and make sure to click Next when you’re done at the bottom to vote for the Aquarium Pyramid animals on the second page.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Pyramids of Love: Rainforest (Part 2)

Join us this week as we take a closer look at the Pyramids of Love at Moody Gardens! Learn about the intricate relationships and courtships that take place in the animal kingdom throughout the week on our blog and look for our trivia questions on Facebook & Twitter for chance to win Aquarium and Rainforest tickets. Make sure to stop by February 14-16 for Valentine’s Day themed animal enrichment and presentations at the Aquarium and Rainforest Pyramids.

LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

There’s plenty of love to discover within the Rainforest Pyramid! Here’s a look at the relationships between some of our most popular animals:

 

IMG_3343Prehensile-tailed Porcupine

Letting a love interest know how you REALLY feel about her

It’s not every day that female porcupines are interested in mating. It’s estimated the time is only 8-12 hours a year! That gives little time to make a great first impression. So what does the male do? The most bizarre thing imaginable; he soaks her with urine. If the female doesn’t enjoy this unusual advancement, she’ll just give a shriek of disgust and shake off the urine.

 

IMG_6670Mandarin Ducks

Vanity isn’t everything

The males have a striking ‘nuptial’ plumage, making it easy to distinguish them from the females…however, it doesn’t last long.  Once the breeding season is over, it’s off with the “suit and tie” and the males will enter the ‘eclipse plumage’ phase where they look just like the female.  But while they are all dressed to impressed, they also have to “walk the talk”! These males must perform to their female love interest, not just a dance, but cold calculated courtship display! The males time their moves just right by bowing and vocalizing to suit the females’ choosiness.  With the male’s superb looks and artistic dance, he’s sure to ruffle her feathers, in a good way of course.

 

cOcelots

A mother’s love is so strong

Who said that being a single parent is easy? Female ocelots raise their young on their own for two years. Since ocelots typically only breed every other year and usually produce only one kitten, you know you have to really have love for your young. During this time, the cub is learning what mom does best: hunting, eating, and how to stay alive. A mother’s love is always the best solution.

 

blue macawsMacaws

A painting worth a 1,000 words

How colorful can you get? Most birds use their keen eyesight to distinguish a good mate. Macaws are distinctly, colorful and beautiful.  The vibrancy of their plumage can help a bird looking for love to determine the overall fitness and health of a potential mate.  Hue said looks don’t matter?

 

Blue_Duiker_1 high resBlue Duiker

Love Patrol

Have you ever met a couple that does everything together? Well when duikers mate and form a bonded pair that’s exactly what happens. These tiny deer tend to eat, sleep, raise young and mark territories together. That’s right! Both males and females in a bonded pair will walk around their territory and scent mark.  No, “mine or yours” in this relationship, it’s all ours!

 

cotton top tamarins pairCotton-Top Tamarin 

A loving mother and father, and uncle, and aunt, and neighbor, and that guy that lives down the road, and mom’s sister’s best friend from high school….

Have you ever had a friend of the family that tells you all sorts of stories about you being young and how cute you were when you were a baby? Cotton-top tamarins do. This species of tamarins cooperatively breed, which means that the dominate breeding pair have offspring that are tended to be all members of the group. Doesn’t matter if you’re the older sibling, or an aunt/uncle, they all help raise the young like their own.  It is believed that this behavior helps offspring to survive to adulthood. Those who are not dominate at the time will receive the same treatment when they’re next in line.  Time for cheek squeezing!!

 

IMG_6643Scarlet ibis

Hi, this is my mother, my father, and their own body guard

Scarlet ibis nest just like any other birds. They build a nest out of twigs and raise young in it, except one little twist. Just a few feet away from the nest is another scarlet ibis who’s watching out for predators.  This is called colonial nesting.  Many individuals may mate and build nests, but everyone has security duty and will rotate (even laying on nests) to be guards. Each sentinel has a duty to alert the rest of the group of when predators are spotted.    Think of it as a couple’s own personal secret service. It’s a loving job.

 

Arapaima

A father’s love has no boundaries, well maybe one

Arapaimas are mouth brooders meaning that they keep eggs and small fry in their mouths. This helps keep predators from eating them, while also making sure the young are all in one place at a time.  The mother isn’t missing from this equation though. She’s protecting the male by continuously being by his side and circling around him and the young when predators are present.  Although this is a very odd way to house your young, many fish do it. For instance, several species of cichlid fish use this same parenting strategy.

Gaboon Viper

Fighting for Love

Sometimes things can’t be settled by looks, by food, or by dances. Sometimes it’s an all out battle for the female. When two gaboon viper males meet during mating season, they have to make sure that they are the only one in that area able to breed with females. So they get into a match of endurance.  They will stand as tall as they can and face each other, each one trying to push the other male down, squeezing him, and trying to tire him out. All in trying to prove to the other male with brute strength that he is the dominate one.

IMG_0107Giant River Otters

Big brother and big sister love

Those of us who have brothers and sisters all know how hard they can be on us from time to time. Although in the end, they still love us no matter what. If you take a look at the Giant River Otters and look closely at their groups out in the wild, you’ll realize they are mostly made up of the same family group. The mother and father will give birth to offspring that stay with the family group, even after maturity.  These older offspring stay on in the family for hunting, security, and most importantly to help raise the next set of kids.

 

Pyramid of Love: Aquarium

Join us this week as we take a closer look at the Pyramids of Love at Moody Gardens! Learn about the intricate relationships and courtships that take place in the animal kingdom throughout the week on our blog and look for our trivia questions on Facebook & Twitter for chance to win Aquarium and Rainforest tickets. Make sure to stop by February 14-16 for Valentine’s Day themed animal enrichment and presentations at the Aquarium and Rainforest Pyramids.

Enjoy several keeper presentations inside the Aquarium Pyramid including South Pacific exhibit dives at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. penguin feedings at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and seal feedings at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., as part of the weekend extravaganza. 

Let’s take a closer look at the relationships among the beloved penguins, seals & sea lions of the Aquarium Pyramid:

PENGUIN LOVE:

Fun Facts :

  • All of Moody Gardens’ penguins have an annual breeding season.
  • Most penguin species are monogamous (one male breeds with one female during a mating season), but may not mate for life.
  • Both the male and female take turns incubating the egg(s), except for Emperor Penguins, in which only the male incubates it.
  • Incubating time varies from one month to 62 days.
  • All of our smaller species build nests out of rocks and usually lay 2 eggs.
  • King penguins carry their 1 egg on their feet.

IMG_2023Look for these penguin courtship behaviors:

  • Ecstatic Displays- vocalizations, head swinging, stretching head and neck upward with flippers held outstretched.
  • Bowing-  One or both of the penguins dips its head and points its bill at the    nest or at the other bird’s feet.

 

SEALED WITH A KISS:

PorterHarbor Seal Courtship:

  • Harbor seals usually return to the same breeding grounds every year.
  • Males and females exhibit pre-mating activity such as rolling, bubble-blowing, and mouthing each other’s necks.
  • During the mating season, male harbor seals exhibit underwater vocal displays.
  • After the pupping season, males initiate true mating behavior by chasing, neck- and flipper-biting, and embracing.
  • Females respond by growling, head-thrusting, and flipper-waving.

IMG_1246Sea Lion Courtship:

  • California sea lions tend to breed on the same section of beach year after year.
  • Successful mating has been observed in males as young as two years.
  • A male with an established territory breeds with an average of 16 females in one season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pyramids of Love: Rainforest (Part 1)

Join us this week as we take a closer look at the Pyramids of Love at Moody Gardens! Learn about the intricate relationships and courtships that take place in the animal kingdom throughout the week on our blog and look for our trivia questions on Facebook & Twitter for chance to win Aquarium and Rainforest tickets. Make sure to stop by February 14-16 for Valentine’s Day themed animal enrichment and presentations at the Aquarium and Rainforest Pyramids.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR…LAND AND WATER

As you enter the Rainforest Pyramid, you not only enter a living and breathing Rainforest, but you also get a glimpse of the relationships taking place between the many different species of animals and plants. Whether it’s an animal in the water or the air, take the time to observe how they interact with each other and you’ll see that there’s plenty of love going around. Here’s a few to lookout for during your next visit:

Pygmy LorisPygmy Slow Loris

We all have lovers that are crabby at some point

Female lorises tend to be a bit crabby and aggressive during mating season, usually lunging and vocalizing at males who are trying to court. Love is love, no matter if you’re happy or sad.

 

 

Rainforest 116Poison dart frogs

Talk about a ‘match’ made in heaven

Both males and females are territorial and will wrestle other individuals and possible love interests for the title.

 

 

 

Jacksons Chameleons

Do you have the right moves?

When the male has found a love interest and wants to court her, he simple just dances. This isn’t just any type of dancing – you have to have the right moves! Head bobs and pop-locking is what really peaks the females interest. If you don’t have the right moves, the male will be met with a disapproving color change and an unreceptive female. Talk about getting shut down!

 

Emperor Scorpions

Dancing the night away

How do these suave males win the hearts of the female companions? The dance floor of course. The “promenade à deux,” is a dance in which the male grabs the female’s pincers and then proceeds to dance around seeking the approval of his spicy dance partner. Once approve has been met, they then continue their salsa to find a suitable area in which to copulate.

 

Damaraland mole rats

Ants and bees don’t have anything on this queen.

Lots of men refer to their mates as queens, mostly as a term of endearment, but for Damaraland mole rats, it’s the truth! This species of mole rat resemble the social structure of that of bees and ants.  Females are not born queens though; they have to fight for the title from other females. Like ants and bees, all mole rats have a certain job in the colony. You have your lovers, your fighters, your gatherers, and your builders.  All our partners deserve the royal treatment every once and a while.

 

EgyptFruitBat2Egyptian Fruit Bats

The apple never falls far from the tree

After a mother gives birth to her young, they carry them around on their underside until the pup is able to roost on its own. Although this isn’t the time that the parents kick the kids out of the house. Usually the offspring stay in the same bat colony in which the parents already live in. Love isn’t always about finding your one and only – sometimes its family!

 

Vampire batVampire Bats

Dinner time love

Vampire bats have a bad rap about being filthy blood suckers, but actually, they are some of the sweetest animals around. When it comes to helping your mate, friend, or neighbor in the colony, these bats win! If one bat in the colony isn’t able to find food at feeding time, no worries, they’ll just head back to the colony and snuggle up to a friend for dinner. Vampire bats provide an altruistic behavior (you do something for me and I’ll do something for you) to their neighbor; they regurgitate blood so that they can live on to the next feed. Without this behavior many individuals would die off very fast in the colony. Fewer mates means less offspring. No doggy bag needed. Check Please!

 

Malagasy Jumping Rats

The best parents EVER!

What makes this species such a great family household to grow up in? These mothers and fathers are among the few monogamous rodent species in existence today. Both parents raise their young together, and if one mate dies, the other will find love again. Usually waiting until another caller comes investigating the home burrow.

 

Piranha

Love isn’t always colorful

When two individuals find themselves in love, they don’t go through glorious color changes like other fish species, they turn almost completely black. This isn’t so much as a warning, but is theorized to be a mode of discouraging other individuals from courting. Think of it as a clear sign of “Hey, I’m taken.”

Festival of Lights Grand Opening Day!

See Santa Parachute in, Plus Dance and Musical Performances and a Special Sister City Celebration. 

FOLSantaParachuting2As the largest holiday lighting events on the Gulf Coast flips the switch on Saturday, Moody Gardens will also kick off the 50th anniversary celebration of Galveston-Niigata Sister City relationship. Festivities begin with Santa parachuting in for this free event, the Festival of Lights packs the night with over 100 sound-enhanced animated light displays, live entertainment and more.

As a special treat, students across Galveston Independent School District will illuminate the Festival of Lights with 25 hand-made Japanese folk art known as the Taiguruma, pull-cart paper lanterns in the shape of a Bream fish, and perform songs to go along with the Japanese celebration. Through Jan. 4, you can enjoy more than one million lights, a Texas-sized Arctic Ice Slide, and the area’s only outdoor ice skating rink. Tickets are $6.95. Additional tickets to any of the other Moody Gardens Attractions are just $6.00 each with your festival ticket.

CLICK HERE for schedule and tickets

OPENING DAY CEREMONIES 4PM – 6PM: 

  • 4:00 – 4:05 PM: Steve Smith and KPRC hosts take the stage
  • 4:05 – 4:30 PM: Galveston Ballet performs
  • 4:30 – 4:40 PM: Master Illusionist Curt Miller musical performance
  • 4:40 – 4:55 PM: Army Band performs
  • 4:55 PM: Countdown to Parachuting Santa begins
  • 5:00 – 5:10 PM: Santa Parachutes in from the North Pole
  • 5:10 – 5:25 PM: Amy Blake’s Dance Academy performs
  • 5:25 – 5:40 PM: Vibe Dance Company performs
  • 5:40 – 5:59 PM: GISD Choir Performs as the Taigurama Japanese Lantern Parade begins
  • 6:00 PM: Santa flips the giant light switch to turn on over 1 million lights. The Festival of Lights gates officially open for the season.

FolEblastBannerThe Festival will continue to shine throughout the holiday season Thursdays through Saturdays from Nov. 22 to Dec. 7, before open nightly from Dec. 12 to Jan. 4, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Hours run from 6 to 10 p.m.

Admission to the Festival of Lights is $6.95. With the purchase of a Festival of Lights ticket, tickets to the Aquarium Pyramid, Rainforest Pyramid, Discovery Pyramid, holiday MG 3D film, holiday 4D Film, Ridefilm and Colonel Paddlewheel Boat can be purchased for only $6 each.  Guests can also enjoy the Texas-sized Arctic slide and the classic outdoor skating rink. Ice skates are available for rent or guests can bring their own.

Moody Gardens recognizes Houston Area Cadillac Dealers, KPRC TV 2, Houston Community Newspapers, Houston Family Magazine, Pepsi, Gilbane Builders, Morris Architects, Broome Welding & Machine Co., Forman Equipment and Contracting, Chuoke Plumbing, Kelso Concrete, KenMor Electric, American Marble, Baker Concrete, CHP and Associates, WORKtm and Schindler Elevator Corp., Glazier Foods and Forward Energy Group as sponsors of the 2013 Festival of Lights.

 

Shark U Week: Know Your Sharks

How well do you know your sharks? Odds are most people only know the sharks that have been portrayed as vicious killers in Hollywood thrillers, such as the mighty great white shark in the 1975 blockbuster hit “JAWS.” But the truth is there are over 400 different types of sharks in our oceans and aquariums all over the world and, despite all the horror stories, sharks do not eat people.

Sharks come in all sizes from the massive whale shark, reaching lengths of 30 feet, to the dwarf lanternfish that’s less than 10 inches. Being able to tell the hammerhead from the nurse shark is quite easy, but others can be difficult. Can you spot the difference between a leopard shark and tiger shark?

How can you tell one from the other?

IT’S ALL IN THE BITE:

IMG_5603Sharks’ teeth are adapted for what they eat. Sharks like the great white and tiger shark have triangular teeth with jagged edges. This keeps hold of larger fish and animals, tear chunks of meat or slice through a turtle’s shell. A sand tiger’s teeth, on the other hand, are long and narrow which make them look frightening, but in fact these types of sharks are not very aggressive. The shape of their teeth is ideal for grabbing a hold of prey. However, the whale shark has very small teeth and it’s not used for biting because they simply filter their food.

SHARK MARKS:

IMG_5627Coloration and patterns play an important role in identifying a shark. Their special marks allow them to camouflage perfectly into their environment. Mako sharks, for example, inhabit tropical and offshore water and are normally a bluish color. On the other hand, the nurse shark has a tan pigmentation ideal for hiding on the ocean’s floor. Tiger sharks can be identified by their stripes and leopard sharks for their spots.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Know the sharks that lurk in the water. Sharks can be found all over the world from the warm waters of the Caribbean to the freezing temperatures of the arctic. The Gulf of Mexico alone houses more than 50 different species of sharks including, on the rare occasions, the great white shark. The bull shark and blacktip shark are quite common off the shores of Galveston while the Caribbean reef shark is obviously in the Caribbean.

 

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