This part of the exhibit appears to be extremely shallow for beluga whales, or is that just a deception on the part of the photo? What is just as interesting is that the tiny state of Connecticut has two aquariums (Mystic and Maritime) that both regularly attract 500,000-750,000 annual visitors and the two facilities are within 2 hours of each other.
This part of the exhibit appears to be extremely shallow for beluga whales, or is that just a deception on the part of the photo? What is just as interesting is that the tiny state of Connecticut has two aquariums (Mystic and Maritime) that both regularly attract 500,000-750,000 annual visitors and the two facilities are within 2 hours of each other.
The shallow area was designed to encourage the beluga's naturally-observed behavior of rubbing on nearshore rocks to exfoliate. There are places in their wild range that have clearly been used for this purpose by belugas for many centuries. i have no idea whether Mystic's belugas actually use this feature, but it looks interesting and can be used to tell a good story about wild belugas. I don't know if the exhibit graphics or the aquarium's education department actually DO tell this story, but the exhibit is nicely designed to allow it to be told.
