Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Monterey Bay Aquarium: An Easter egg hunt

A classic sea otter shirt makes a comeback

Late one Friday afternoon our team was reading the comments on our social posts and noticed something a little odd...

Swiftie eagle eyes had noticed a vintage Monterey Bay Aquarium otter shirt in The Life of a Showgirl Official Release Party movie. Soon our feeds were flooded! Huge thanks for the love.

The classic shirt was featured on @taylorswiftstyled and highlighted in the San Francisco Chronicle, which gave a shoutout to our sea otter conservation work. After going viral, we saw a wave of $13 donations (Taylor’s favorite number) to support our sea otter program and other ocean conservation work. Swifties, you truly walk the talk.

We tracked down the original artwork—first printed in the 1990s—and are bringing it back to say thank you, sustainably. The original shirt was designed by award-winning children's book author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen and printed by Harborside Graphics, a company that was later subsumed into Maine-based Liberty Graphics, a cooperative employee-owned company. To produce this re-issue of the vintage design, Liberty Graphics uses PVC-free, water-based ink that’s better for the planet and our ocean and 100 percent cotton material that doesn’t shed microplastics in the wash. We’re also ensuring packaging and shipping materials are plastic-free. (The original shirt they produced held up 30+ years, making this an anti-fast-fashion statement.)

This limited-time fundraising campaign raised $2.3 million in less than two days, a million dollars beyond our original goal. The funds will support the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program and other vital ocean conservation efforts. The Taylor effect was in full force, putting the spotlight on this adorable keystone species and the Aquarium's mission to inspire conservation of the ocean.

This moment is just the latest in a series of possible Easter eggs that have Swifties and ocean-lovers alike engaged and learning more about the sea otter recovery and ocean conservation work Monterey Bay Aquarium does. Join us as we speculate on other potential points of connection...

Ivy, Ruby, and Opal

Several of Taylor’s songs include titles or lyrics that coincide with the names of our beloved exhibit otters. Easter egg or coincidence? What do you think?

A critical part of our sea otter work is our surrogacy program, which pairs stranded pups with our resident female otters so that they can learn important survival skills and ultimately be released back into the wild. While some of our exhibit otters easily adopt the surrogate mother role, Ruby did not. This move allows her to flourish with a new social group while allowing us to one day welcome new otters who may choose to serve as surrogate mothers. Ruby’s journey from vulnerable pup to thriving sea otter feels like its own shimmering comeback story.

Get to know more about our exhibit otters

1989

This is the year Taylor Swift was born, and also the title of one of her albums. It’s also the year Monterey Bay Aquarium had its first successful sea otter release. Pico, a rescued sea otter pup, underwent a new training protocol that included open-water swims with an Aquarium free diver in the water off the back deck. These swims helped Pico get familiar with his natural kelp forest environment, learn how to forage on local prey like mussels, urchins, and crabs, and socialize with wild sea otters. After his release in 1989, he established himself at Año Nuevo and spotters observed him foraging on large prey.

New Heights of otter recovery

When Taylor Swift made her first podcast appearance on New Heights, fans learned something unexpected—her fiancé, Travis Kelce, loves sea otters. Inspired, we created a Taylor-style song about our work rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing sea otters. It’s a playful way to invite Taylor, Travis, and their fans to learn how sea otters help keep our ocean healthy—and how they can help too.

Monterey Bay Aquarium otter shirt spotted in The Life of a Showgirl Official Release Party

Taylor sported a vintage 1993 Monterey Bay Aquarium t-shirt featuring sea otters in the recent film. Intentional or not, by putting our sea otter conservation work in the spotlight, this has brought a new era of support and awareness to the Aquarium’s long history of ocean conservation. Inspired fans joined the fun by donating to a special, limited time campaign that featured a re-issue of the t-shirts as a thank you gift to donors who gave at least $65.13. The campaign was an immediate success, reaching its original goal of $1.3 million in just seven hours and closing out at over $2.3 million raised—a million dollars beyond the original goal. The funds will directly benefit the Aquarium's ocean conservation work, including our Sea Otter Program. There’s wonder in ocean life and caring for it helps us all.