mobanmarketLONG BEACH, CA – Charlie, one of the Aquarium of the Pacific’s original charter animals, turned 22-years-old Saturday. He celebrated with an edible seafood cake gifted to him by aquarium biologists. Guests were invited to wear birthday hats and sing “Happy Birthday” to Charlie as he enjoyed his favorite foods, treats and gifts.
As a pup he was stranded, rescued, and deemed non-releasable to the wild before arriving at the Aquarium, the press release said. He’s the oldest southern sea otter living at any aquarium or zoo, earning him a feature in the Guinness Book of World Records: Wild Things edition released in 2018.
“Charlie is nearly double the average life span of a wild southern sea otter. Although he doesn’t get around like he used to, he is enjoying life and we are appreciating every day he is with us,” Brett Long, curator of birds and mammals, said in a statement.
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Charlie has been with the Aquarium since it first opened – he was first orphaned during the El Niñ0 storms of 1997. Southern sea otters like Charlie live along the coast of Northern California from just south of San Francisco to the central California coast.
Charlie is an animal ambassador living at the Aquarium and has also contributed to scientific research, the aquarium said. From 2011 to 2013 he participated in a study of how sea otters perceive sound at the University of California Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Lab. He was selected for the study in part because of the behavioral training he had received at the Aquarium, the press release said. To participate, Charlie learned to enter a specialized acoustic testing environment, listen for sound signals, and respond to the researchers, notifying them whether he had heard the sound by touching his nose to a target or remaining still.