Recent News
BZS Lecture: “An Introduction To Lichens”Saturday, May 06, 2017
The latest installment in the Bermuda Zoological Society lecture series will see a talk presented by Dr. Scott LaGreca on the topic of “An Introduction to Lichens: A Focus on Bermuda.”
Cup teams helping to clean up Bermuda
Saturday, April 29, 2017
The America’s Cup Event Authority, America’s Cup Endeavour Programme and a number of America’s Cup teams supported Earth Day last weekend with a range of activities across Bermuda, home of the 35th America’s Cup, demonstrating their ongoing support for sustainability, announced in 2016 in the America’s Cup Sustainability Charter.
Bermuda benefits from Day of Giving
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Bermuda looks cleaner and tidier following the efforts of staff at Tokio Millennium Re who took part in a Day of Giving.
Reef diver finds missing transmitter
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
A satellite transmitter crucial to the Bermuda Turtle Project has been found by a reef diver in the Bahamas.
Reef diver finds missing transmitter
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
A satellite transmitter crucial to the Bermuda Turtle Project has been found by a reef diver in the Bahamas.
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All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
3/19/2012 3:57:00 PM
Department of Conservation Services Press Release
MONDAY, MARCH 19: The Department of Conservation Service today announced that it has released its seven-year-old male Galapagos shark back into the wild for health reasons.
The Galapagos Shark is a species of Requiem Shark, which live in reefs like Bermuda’s, feeding mainly on bottom-dwelling fish and squid.
Due to their slow reproductive rate and heavy fishing pressure their global population is in decline and as such it is recognized as a threatened species.
For the last six years the 6.5-foot-long Galapagos Shark named “Osbourne” has been a star attraction in the Northrock Tank at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ), along with a Black Grouper.
About a year ago Osbourne started developing a rubbed rostrum (nose) in the tank due to competition from the grouper.
Aquarium staff tried to reduce the aggression between the two through various training methods but were unsuccessful and as such plans were made to return the shark to the wild this summer.
However, two weeks ago the hostility between the grouper and shark escalated and the shark’s condition deteriorated.
As a result Principal Curator Dr Ian Walker made the decision to move up the release of the shark for his well being.
Dr Walker said: “The decision to relocate the shark was not made lightly as sharks need to constantly have water flowing over their gills and can go into shock from stress relatively easily.”
With assistance from Dr Neil Burnie and Choy Aming from the Bermuda Shark Project, Aquarium staff and volunteers moved the shark onto a fast boat using a specially made sling and placed it in a shark transport box.
Once on the boat the shark was monitored carefully and had water pumped over it gills while it rested upside down in a relaxed state known as tonic immobility.
After arriving seven miles off north shore at Northrock, the shark was released over the side of the boat and aquarist Steve Davis and Dr Burnie monitored its progress from the water as it swam away.
Dr Walker said: “The whole process went very smoothly. Osbourne was released with a satellite telemetry tag, donated by the Atlantic Conservation Partnership, which will provide us with very useful information on his swimming patterns and to some extent his wellbeing.
“We wish him well.”