Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium News

I was their last year, and I wasn't too impressed. The exhibit quality, I believe, is poor. Too much mock-rock and fake features. I realize that some exhibits need to have fake stuff, but at least try to make it look real. Attention to exhibit detail is something the Georgia Aquarium does not do very well.

Also, with 1.1 acres of land, you think they would make the dolphin pools larger. Only 1.3 million gallons?

They have a capacity to educate the public so much more than what they already do. The Georgia Aquarium is turning into a SeaWorld which is a real shame.
 
From what I have seen from georgia, the fake rocks in all the tanks look really great. Off course, not all exhibits will be equal in quality ( somehow, no zoo or aquarium has ever managed that, to make everything look equally good, there always exhibits that look less than others).

I am dissappointed that the aquarium had made a showexhibit out if this. To me, georgia aquarium is excellent to look in awe in front of huge windows, even with a large crowd around you, and not sitting in an showarea to watch dolphins perform their tricks. Well, I suppose you cannot expect everything to be great about the aquarium. But I know I will visit atalanta one day, just for the ocean voyager!
 
I just posted my opinion on my blog about the new show a few days ago:

Steno bredanensis: Georgia Aquarium's Dolphin Tales and SeaWorld's One Ocean

Hopefully I'll be able to visit the aquarium again soon. I went two days after it opened back in 2005... it seems like the place has changed so much within only 6 years. The belugas, Nico and Gasper are gone and so are the original whale sharks, Ralph and Norton. As well as the addition of the manta ray to ocean voyager, and I have never seen a manta ray in person before, so that will be a treat to see.

The dolphin expansion actually exceeded my expectations as for how big it is, though I'll have to see it in person to compare it to the other dolphin exhibits I've seen... that still isn't many to compare it to, the only two I've seen in person is Rocky Point Preserve in SeaWorld and the Mirage dolphin habitat in Las Vegas.
 
Georgia Aquarium Welcomes First South African Penguin Chicks

Yesterday, Atlanta's Georgia Aquarium announced the birth of two South African Penguin chicks. The young sea birds, whose genders are unknown at this time, hatched within two weeks of each other in early January and have been hand-reared behind-the-scenes by Aquarium animal training and veterinary staff members.

(This info is from Zooborns)
 
Dolphin Tales, the new exhibit complex which debuted 14 months ago, has seen its one millionth visitor. The entire aquarium has now had over 16 million visitors since it opened in late 2005 and the dolphin tank put the aquarium over the 10 million gallon total.

Georgia Aquarium | Newsroom | Photo Library

Has anyone seen "Frogs: A Chorus of Colours" since it opened in January? It is a temporary exhibit that features 15 species of frogs:

Georgia Aquarium | Explore The Aquarium | Frogs - A Chorus of Colors | Atlanta Sightseeing
 
snowleopard said:
Dolphin Tales, the new exhibit complex which debuted 14 months ago, has seen its one millionth visitor. The entire aquarium has now had over 16 million visitors since it opened in late 2005 and the dolphin tank put the aquarium over the 10 million gallon total.

Georgia Aquarium | Newsroom | Photo Library

Has anyone seen "Frogs: A Chorus of Colours" since it opened in January? It is a temporary exhibit that features 15 species of frogs:

Georgia Aquarium | Explore The Aquarium | Frogs - A Chorus of Colors | Atlanta Sightseeing
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We are visiting on friday

Team Tapir
 
There are reports that the aquarium is applying for a permit to import 18 beluga into the country, by the looks of it, not all for the aquarium, can anyone confirm?
 
It's actually true, GA has applied for a permit to bring these animals to the US.

Beluga Whale Acquisition - Blog - Georgia Aquarium

I can't say that this surprised me, GA has already obtained other animals from the wild before. Obviously, I'm not against aquariums/dolphinariums but I don't like new captures. It's true that the beluga population in the US is small but with a cooperative work between the institutions in the country and around the world, the problem can be solved, just like they are doing with the captive orcas.


The animals have been already captured and I'm sure that they are living in much worse places than the places where they'll be living in the US, nevertheless, this is not good for their images (GA's and the others institutions that will house the 18(!) animals), and 18 belugas seem excessive, most of the institutions with belugas are almost full and there is no plenty of room for the new ones. Unfortunately, I'm almost sure that the import is going to happen.
 
ocean_boy said:
It's actually true, GA has applied for a permit to bring these animals to the US.

Beluga Whale Acquisition - Blog - Georgia Aquarium


The US beluga population has been in steady decline, and without an injection of new founders it is well on its way to oblivion. Whether the source and methodology of this proposed import are defensible is open to question, but the quantity is probably just what will be needed to re-establish a viable long-term future for belugas in North America.
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It's true that the beluga population in the US is small but with a cooperative work between the institutions in the country and around the world, the problem can be solved, just like they are doing with the captive orcas.
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The captive orcas population (in the US) is in no way a cooperative program, but a series of business deals that gave Sea World a monopoly on the species.
 
gerenuk said:
The captive orcas population (in the US) is in no way a cooperative program, but a series of business deals that gave Sea World a monopoly on the species.
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Yes, I know that is not a cooperative program in the US, but there are not many opportunities to cooperate on reproduction, Shouka is the only orca in the US (and not under SW care) who can be important for the breeding programme. But SW seems not being interest in working with SF, which is understandable, but that's a pity, Shouka is not getting any younger and she continues being alone.

When I referred to the cooperative work with captive orcas, I was talking about a cooperative work between parks around the world, not in the US. Sorry, I didn't make myself clear.
 
I agree with ocean boy that I'm not comfortable with new captures at all. If the permit gets passed, then a flood gate of permits will ensue, vying for animals captured from other sources such as orcas and pilot whales destined for Sea World and other parks in the U.S. The beluga whale captive population, as with the orca population, will continue to decline even with these new 18 whales. The goal in the early '90's was to have a sustainable captive population, but that didn't work out too well.
 
NAIB Volunteer said:
I agree with ocean boy that I'm not comfortable with new captures at all. If the permit gets passed, then a flood gate of permits will ensue, vying for animals captured from other sources such as orcas and pilot whales destined for Sea World and other parks in the U.S. The beluga whale captive population, as with the orca population, will continue to decline even with these new 18 whales. The goal in the early '90's was to have a sustainable captive population, but that didn't work out too well.
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It will be hard to have ANY sustainable cetacean populations when certain institutions holding prime breeding age animals "decide" to cease breeding....

Not that I necessarily agree with what Georgia Aquarium and others are doing here, but the realities of demographics are clear for belugas, orcas and many other species: bring in new founders or say goodbye.
 
Seaworld has enough orcas and has a sucessful breeding program that has supplied whales for parks in france and loro parque, so they do not need whales from the wild.
 
reduakari said:
It will be hard to have ANY sustainable cetacean populations when certain institutions holding prime breeding age animals "decide" to cease breeding....

Not that I necessarily agree with what Georgia Aquarium and others are doing here, but the realities of demographics are clear for belugas, orcas and many other species: bring in new founders or say goodbye.
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What about bottlenose dolphins? Sea World may hold the monopoly on most of the breeding going on, but with over 450 animals, surely that population is stable and sustainable?
 
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