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NEW ARRIVALS AT SEAQUARIUM WESTON

This bank holiday at SeaQuarium, guests will be able to get up close and personal with our brown rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Staff at the aquarium are excited to introduce four energetic youngsters to the display in the phobias zone. These four will soon be joined by the original two mature females that already live at the aquarium, in hope that they will mother the group and keep the new little madams under control.

Staff at the aquarium encourage the all female group to carry out their natural behaviours in the exhibit, by spreading their food around the enclosure. This encourages them to use their sense of smell to forage for the food, like they would do in the wild.

Aquarist and small mammal keeper, Malvina Lau, said, “It is so exciting to have these young rats join our existing duo here at the aquarium. We have been using lots of different types of enrichment to keep the mischievous four, busy. They have so much energy and are really fun to watch to see what they get up to next.”

Although commonly kept as pets, rats generally get a bad press being regarded as dirty, dangerous and diseased; a worrying perception when you consider that they probably outnumber the world’s human population. However being largely nocturnal rats have a keen sense of smell, something that has been put to good use in other rat species in some countries. 

In Mozambique the 30cm long pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus) has been trained to detect land mines in the previously war torn country, with remarkable effect. In Tanzania, medical pouched rats have been trained to detect early stage TB from human saliva, detecting more in ten minutes than a lab technician can achieve in a whole day!

So when guests look at our new brown rat arrivals in our Phobia Zone, they might just look at them in a rather different light.

SeaQuarium Weston is located on its own pier on the beach in Weston-super-Mare and opens at 10am daily with last admissions at 4pm. Standard admission prices are £9.50 for adults. £7.50 for children and £8.50 for concessions. Prices include a re-entry hand stamp, as well as a complimentary guidebook and activity booklet for the children.

Further information is available from SeaQuariums official website: www.seaquarium.co.uk or by telephone on 01934 613361.