Recent News

Minister gives update on Sargasso Sea Alliance
Friday, April 27, 2012

Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a Full Science Case for their review as Bermuda moves to establish international protection of the Sargasso Sea.


Minister Bean: Sargasso Sea Alliance Progress
Thursday, April 26, 2012

MARC A. BEAN, JP, MP ON: SARGASSO SEA PROJECT UPDATE; SCIENCE CASE


Rubis donates fuel for educational boat
Thursday, April 19, 2012

Rubis Energy Bermuda has donated another year of fuel for education to facilitate marine conservation excursions for local schoolchildren to support conservation education programmes.


RUBiS donates a year's worth of fuel to BZS
Tuesday, April 17, 2012

TUESDAY, APRIL 17: RUBIS has gifted a year’s worth of diesel boat fuel to the Bermuda Zoological Society, it was announced today.


Aquarium shark released back into the wild
Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A shark called Osbourne has been released back to the sea by the Bermuda Aquarium and Zoo.



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Latest News

All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Goodbye to Cliffy
Royal Gazette
Thursday, October 23, 2014

By Jessie Moniz Hardy
Published Oct 23, 2014 at 8:00 am (Updated Oct 22, 2014 at 10:32 pm)

RG_141023_1a.jpeg
Settled: Cliffy the longtail after a failed attempt by Lisa and Dennis Whitehead to put him back in
his nest at Grape Bay in Paget. He is about one month old here

There’s a longtail named Cliffy exploring the world, thanks to the efforts of a Paget couple.

Dennis and Lisa Whitehead said a tearful goodbye this week to the longtail chick they rescued from drowning over a month ago.

“There was a nest in the cliffs just below our house,” said Mrs Whitehead, whose house overlooks Grape Bay. “We knew there was a chick in there and we saw the parents flying in and out of the nest.”

They suspected the birds were new to parenthood because the nest was a little too low in the cliff and too close to the ocean.

“A storm came up in late September and the waves were washing right into the nest,” said Mrs Whitehead. “We knew we had to do something or the chick would drown.

RG_141023_1b.jpeg
Safe hands: Dennis Whitehead rescuing
Cliffy the longtail during a storm that
flooded his burrow with seawater

RG_141023_1c.jpeg
Cliffy the longtail: All grown up and ready
to take on the world?

Longtail chicks normally take two months to fledge and leave the nest in August.“It was very late for longtail chicks. If it had been earlier in the season the proximity to the ocean would not have been a problem.”

Her husband clambered down to the nest and put the chick in a cat carrier.

“We put him back the next day when the sea had calmed down but the parents never returned,” said Mrs Whitehead.

They eventually fished the chick out again, fearing he would die.

“We took him to the Aquarium because we couldn’t feed him,” said Mrs Whitehead. “We did the right thing, because it turns out it is illegal to keep a longtail chick.”

Cliffy became one of six longtails being rehabilitated at the Aquarium. The Whiteheads visited him every week and were amazed to see how quickly he grew.

“I think he recognised Dennis,” said Mrs Whitehead. “Cliffy definitely would start to squawk and hop around when we visited.”

Just before Hurricane Gonzalo struck, Cliffy lost his appetite, a sign that he was ready to go off into the world.

Aquarium staff waited for the monster storm to pass, then released Cliffy from the roof of the Aquarium on Tuesday.