Ashley Chow dot Com

So, have you heard the news? It was just announced today that Aurora, the grandma beluga at the Vancouver Aquarium, is pregnant! I got an email at 9 in the morning with the oh-so-exciting news.

Now, here’s the “twisted” part. Let’s get you filled in on some Vancouver Aquarium beluga facts if you’re not already familiar with them.

There are currently 5 belugas living at the Aquarium:

Kavna: She’s the oldest and is living behind-the-scenes right now because of Tiqa.

Imaq (E-mac): He’s the only male in the group and is living behind-the-scenes with Kavna right now. Apparently he likes to sleep with everyone. Imagine if he gets Kavna pregnant too. Oh my.

Aurora: She’s the mother to Qila (father is Imaq) and grandmother to Tiqa and is currently pregnant (by Imaq). She had another kid with Imaq in the past but that one passed away.

Qila (KEE-la): She’s the daughter of Aurora and mother to Tiqa (father is Imaq).

Tiqa (TEE-ka): She’s the newest beluga, still gray and growing, daughter of Qila.

Incest much, Imaq?

Well, it’s fine for belugas obviously. As long as they keep having more kids! Never a bad thing for them.

This new baby is scheduled to arrive sometime in June or July, which is when belugas are usually born. I really wonder how they’re gonna manage having two baby belugas in the same habitat. Will they move Qila and Tiqa elsewhere when Aurora gives birth? They’ll probably have to, since Qila had to be isolated from everyone.

They need a bigger habitat, that’s for sure.

Normally, Vancouver doesn’t get much snow if at all during the winter season. However, December of 2008 was different. We had about 3 weeks of continuous snow, which obviously caused chaos well… everywhere. I can’t even count the number of times I went outside to shovel the never ending amount of snow. Day and night, night and day…

Here are some pictures of that unusual winter weather.

The creepy, very dangerous icicles on the side of a house at the end of the block.

A fresh dump of snow just outside my house. Oh great.

Some nice bare trees. That’s how thick the side street roads were. I can’t even begin to explain how many cars I saw get stuck.

Just a random shot of the pretty trees.

I thought this was kinda cute. Funny how the seagull’s in focus. But look at those scary icicles just waiting to fall.

Snow is, unfortunately, scheduled for tonight and tomorrow, but hopefully, it’ll just be tonight and tomorrow. I’m sure everyone is totally 100% sick of the snowy winter we’ve had. That includes me.

A photo of Science World that I took has been selected for inclusion in the sixth edition of the Schmap Vancouver Guide.

“Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. … The innovative technology behind Schmap Guides lets end users publish schmaps (to share trip itineraries, local reviews and more), and powers a popular range of Schmap Widgets, syndicating more than 6 million maps a month – together with content and event schedules for travel, sports and concert tours – to a fast-growing network of websites and blogs.” – from the “About Schmap” portion of the site

Schmap Vancouver Guide – Science World Picture
My picture should be on the right hand side.

The picture can also be found on Flickr.

I actually snapped that shot on the SkyTrain heading home one day.