Voting is now open to choose a name for a baby stingray that will soon be a part of the Marine Life Center at Discovery Space in State College.
Discovery Space will foster the stingray for about the next one and a half to two years until it’s big enough to return to the Electric City Aquarium & Reptile Den in Scranton.
Michele Crowl is the executive director of Discovery Space and The Rivet. She said more than 40 classes and groups entered the contest to name the female California Round Ray.
The public can now vote on these top four names: Sandy, Pearl, Bubbles and Strawberry.
- “Sandy” was submitted by Lea McCartney's class at Bellefonte Elementary School.
- “Pearl” was submitted by Jennifer Murray's class at Mountaintop Area Elementary School in Snow Shoe.
- “Bubbles” was submitted by Katie Roth's class at Gray's Woods Elementary School in Port Matilda.
- “Strawberry” was submitted by Lauren Hofer's class at Panda Preschool & Daycare in Burnham.
Crowl said she’s hearing a lot of excitement about the baby stingray, which she said is about the size of a teacup saucer.
“I was at a coffee shop the other day, and somebody stopped by to say they're excited for her to arrive. Just at the gym, the grocery store, and a number of staff have heard it from family members,” Crowl said.
The baby stingray will have its own tank in the Marine Life Center. They created the space when they realized that many of the kids who visit them from around Central Pennsylvania have never seen the ocean.
“So in order for us to be able to talk about marine science careers and ocean conservation and sort of all the things that are the good science that comes with everything ocean-related and ecosystems, we opened a small Marine Life Center,” Crowl said.
Kendra Adkins is the marine life educator at Discovery Space. She said the stingray will acclimate in a tank at the Marine Life Center for about 10 days before the public can visit it.
“I'm excited to welcome the ray into our space and to get to know its individual personality, learn a little bit about what it likes in its environment before we debut it to the public,” Adkins said.
She’s been creating puzzles made of PVC pipe that she’ll hide food in for the stingray to find.
“I actually have been working on some enrichment puzzles for it to give it a little bit of extra stimulation in the tank,” Adkins said. “Learning does it like a challenge? Does it like things a little easier?”
Discovery Space members are invited to a Stingray Welcome Party on March 14 from 5-6:30 p.m., where they will be the first to see it and find out the winning name. The general public will be able to visit the new stingray starting March 15.
The classroom whose name is chosen will get a lesson about stingrays and passes to visit it at Discovery Space.
You can vote for – Sandy, Pearl, Bubbles or Strawberry – on the Discovery Space website.
