Tang and Charlie Jacobsma, the Shedd’s director of animal behavior and training, accompanied beluga whales Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra on the journey from their Niagara Falls enclosures to Toronto’s Pearson Airport and to Chicago. Two additional belugas joined the flight on a chartered Boeing 777 freighter but were then transported to an aquarium in San Antonio.
The whales had been living in Marineland of Niagara Falls, a notorious, long-running aquarium and amusement park that went bankrupt after the death of its owners and closed to the public in 2024. As it ran out of money to care for the animals, the park had previously implored the Canadian government for assistance. In 2025, Marineland announced that it had made the “devastating decision” to consider euthanasia if it could not relocate the animals.
Workers at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium use a sling to move a beluga whale.
Photograph: Reuters
At that point, the wider aquarium and marine biology world was already discussing what could be done; by January 2026, members of the rescue team were flying to Ontario to assess how they’d transport the belugas. In June, Canada reached an agreement with Marineland to allow this rehoming process, in which animals may go to a consortium of aquariums in Georgia, San Diego, and Spain, in addition to the whales already transferred to Chicago and Texas institutions. It was an unprecedented mission. “People have moved belugas before,” Tang says. “But something of this scale had not been done.”
It all went about as smoothly as moving thousand-plus-pound water-dwelling mammals hundreds of miles could have gone: “Beautiful, nice, slow takeoff and a nice easy landing,” Jacobsma tells WIRED. The team was able to stay close to the whales, constantly monitoring them and “pouring water on their backs, making sure that they were comfortable.”
A few days after the transport, on a sunny Friday afternoon, visitors to the Shedd’s Oceanarium section are greeted with signs asking for quiet. “Please keep voices low,” they read. “Help the rescued belugas acclimate to their new home.” WIRED peeked into a secluded habitat, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by veterinarians and other marine life experts, where Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra are currently being kept out of sight of the public so their new stewards can focus on settling them into their new home.
Tang and Charlie Jacobsma, the Shedd’s director of animal behavior and training, accompanied beluga whales Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra on the journey from their Niagara Falls enclosures to Toronto’s Pearson Airport and to Chicago. Two additional belugas joined the flight on a chartered Boeing 777 freighter but were then transported to an aquarium in San Antonio.
The whales had been living in Marineland of Niagara Falls, a notorious, long-running aquarium and amusement park that went bankrupt after the death of its owners and closed to the public in 2024. As it ran out of money to care for the animals, the park had previously implored the Canadian government for assistance. In 2025, Marineland announced that it had made the “devastating decision” to consider euthanasia if it could not relocate the animals.
Workers at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium use a sling to move a beluga whale.
Photograph: Reuters
At that point, the wider aquarium and marine biology world was already discussing what could be done; by January 2026, members of the rescue team were flying to Ontario to assess how they’d transport the belugas. In June, Canada reached an agreement with Marineland to allow this rehoming process, in which animals may go to a consortium of aquariums in Georgia, San Diego, and Spain, in addition to the whales already transferred to Chicago and Texas institutions. It was an unprecedented mission. “People have moved belugas before,” Tang says. “But something of this scale had not been done.”
It all went about as smoothly as moving thousand-plus-pound water-dwelling mammals hundreds of miles could have gone: “Beautiful, nice, slow takeoff and a nice easy landing,” Jacobsma tells WIRED. The team was able to stay close to the whales, constantly monitoring them and “pouring water on their backs, making sure that they were comfortable.”
A few days after the transport, on a sunny Friday afternoon, visitors to the Shedd’s Oceanarium section are greeted with signs asking for quiet. “Please keep voices low,” they read. “Help the rescued belugas acclimate to their new home.” WIRED peeked into a secluded habitat, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by veterinarians and other marine life experts, where Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra are currently being kept out of sight of the public so their new stewards can focus on settling them into their new home.
#Wild #Rescue #Mission #Beluga #Whales #Chicagoanimal behavior,biology,animals,zoos,marine science,science,whales,chicago,canada">Inside the Wild Rescue Mission That Took 4 Beluga Whales to Chicago
One of the most crucial parts of pulling off an unprecedented international plane ride for four beluga whales is making sure they don’t even realize that they’re on a trip. “The goal is that they notice as little as possible,” says Karisa Tang, the lead veterinarian and vice president of animal health at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.
Tang and Charlie Jacobsma, the Shedd’s director of animal behavior and training, accompanied beluga whales Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra on the journey from their Niagara Falls enclosures to Toronto’s Pearson Airport and to Chicago. Two additional belugas joined the flight on a chartered Boeing 777 freighter but were then transported to an aquarium in San Antonio.
The whales had been living in Marineland of Niagara Falls, a notorious, long-running aquarium and amusement park that went bankrupt after the death of its owners and closed to the public in 2024. As it ran out of money to care for the animals, the park had previously implored the Canadian government for assistance. In 2025, Marineland announced that it had made the “devastating decision” to consider euthanasia if it could not relocate the animals.
Workers at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium use a sling to move a beluga whale.
Photograph: Reuters
At that point, the wider aquarium and marine biology world was already discussing what could be done; by January 2026, members of the rescue team were flying to Ontario to assess how they’d transport the belugas. In June, Canada reached an agreement with Marineland to allow this rehoming process, in which animals may go to a consortium of aquariums in Georgia, San Diego, and Spain, in addition to the whales already transferred to Chicago and Texas institutions. It was an unprecedented mission. “People have moved belugas before,” Tang says. “But something of this scale had not been done.”
It all went about as smoothly as moving thousand-plus-pound water-dwelling mammals hundreds of miles could have gone: “Beautiful, nice, slow takeoff and a nice easy landing,” Jacobsma tells WIRED. The team was able to stay close to the whales, constantly monitoring them and “pouring water on their backs, making sure that they were comfortable.”
A few days after the transport, on a sunny Friday afternoon, visitors to the Shedd’s Oceanarium section are greeted with signs asking for quiet. “Please keep voices low,” they read. “Help the rescued belugas acclimate to their new home.” WIRED peeked into a secluded habitat, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by veterinarians and other marine life experts, where Acadia, Lillooet, Osiris, and Sierra are currently being kept out of sight of the public so their new stewards can focus on settling them into their new home.
There’s nothing more natural, simple, and affordable than a mushroom log. Many mushroom logs available for purchase are meant exclusively for outdoor use, as they’re just plain old logs with sealed holes full of colonized mushroom spawn. But this 12-inch-tall option from Williams Sonoma is meant for indoor display (though you can also place it outside if you’d prefer), with smooth waxed ends and a rustic metal tag printed with its creation date.
Soak it for 24 hours and—theoretically—you’ll have mushrooms pinning in about 30 days. Even though oyster mushrooms are the easiest variety to grow, for reasons known only to me at the time, I chose a shiitake log, which came with a piece of paper identifying it as a “younger log.” This means the spawn was still in the process of colonizing and should fruit seven to nine months from the date stamped on its tag, which was December 2025. I soaked the log in mid-May and again in early July, but I’m still waiting to see any pins. Williams Sonoma says the log is guaranteed to fruit, so it continues to sit on my dining room table, in a saucer full of water, tented with a plastic produce bag. Some green mold has started to appear on the top, but I remain optimistic, even though this is not my first shiitake mushroom log failure (I tried to grow one from a different brand some years ago, outside under a bush).
#Year #Growing #Mushrooms #Badlyapocalypse wow,food and drink,biology">
There’s nothing more natural, simple, and affordable than a mushroom log. Many mushroom logs available for purchase are meant exclusively for outdoor use, as they’re just plain old logs with sealed holes full of colonized mushroom spawn. But this 12-inch-tall option from Williams Sonoma is meant for indoor display (though you can also place it outside if you’d prefer), with smooth waxed ends and a rustic metal tag printed with its creation date.
Soak it for 24 hours and—theoretically—you’ll have mushrooms pinning in about 30 days. Even though oyster mushrooms are the easiest variety to grow, for reasons known only to me at the time, I chose a shiitake log, which came with a piece of paper identifying it as a “younger log.” This means the spawn was still in the process of colonizing and should fruit seven to nine months from the date stamped on its tag, which was December 2025. I soaked the log in mid-May and again in early July, but I’m still waiting to see any pins. Williams Sonoma says the log is guaranteed to fruit, so it continues to sit on my dining room table, in a saucer full of water, tented with a plastic produce bag. Some green mold has started to appear on the top, but I remain optimistic, even though this is not my first shiitake mushroom log failure (I tried to grow one from a different brand some years ago, outside under a bush).
#Year #Growing #Mushrooms #Badlyapocalypse wow,food and drink,biology">My Year of Growing Mushrooms Badly
Mushroom hunting is cool and fun, but you know what’s not cool and fun? Having slugs or other mushroom hunters discover your secret spot. Or, worst of all, accidentally collecting the wrong kind of mushroom that could make you quite sick—or worse.
Ideally, you’d be able to grow your favorite kind of mushrooms safely in your own home or yard, whether that’s shiitakes, morels, or lion’s manes, just like you would vegetables. But like many gardening-adjacent pursuits, it’s not that simple. Mushrooms, like all fungi, need just three things to grow: spores, a food source, and a humid environment.
However, because mushrooms are incredibly sensitive to light, heat, and contamination, it doesn’t take much to create a prohibitive growing environment. And then there’s the question of whether it’s possible to simulate the critical symbiotic relationships that many mushrooms, especially more coveted ones like porcinis and chanterelles, must maintain with tree roots to thrive.
I am far from a mycology expert, but during the past year, I, a busy full-time-working parent, have engaged in five different attempts to grow mushrooms in my house and backyard: shiitakes on an inoculated log, oysters on a cardboard-enclosed fruiting block, wine caps in spawn buried in bark chips in my garden, oysters from grain spawn in a bucket, and oysters and lion’s manes in a monotub setup.
I laughed, I cried, I made an epic mess of chopped straw in my bathroom, and only two of the five methods succeeded. If you, too, are mushroom-curious and looking to grow your own, here’s what I did—and, in some cases, wish I had done differently.
There’s nothing more natural, simple, and affordable than a mushroom log. Many mushroom logs available for purchase are meant exclusively for outdoor use, as they’re just plain old logs with sealed holes full of colonized mushroom spawn. But this 12-inch-tall option from Williams Sonoma is meant for indoor display (though you can also place it outside if you’d prefer), with smooth waxed ends and a rustic metal tag printed with its creation date.
Soak it for 24 hours and—theoretically—you’ll have mushrooms pinning in about 30 days. Even though oyster mushrooms are the easiest variety to grow, for reasons known only to me at the time, I chose a shiitake log, which came with a piece of paper identifying it as a “younger log.” This means the spawn was still in the process of colonizing and should fruit seven to nine months from the date stamped on its tag, which was December 2025. I soaked the log in mid-May and again in early July, but I’m still waiting to see any pins. Williams Sonoma says the log is guaranteed to fruit, so it continues to sit on my dining room table, in a saucer full of water, tented with a plastic produce bag. Some green mold has started to appear on the top, but I remain optimistic, even though this is not my first shiitake mushroom log failure (I tried to grow one from a different brand some years ago, outside under a bush).
#Year #Growing #Mushrooms #Badlyapocalypse wow,food and drink,biology
Mushroom hunting is cool and fun, but you know what’s not cool and fun? Having…
