When I visited this aquarium a year-and-a-half ago there were Asian small-clawed otters in this exhibit, and while that species is extremely common in captivity at least otters are far more active than alligators. After seeing many white gators at various zoos and aquariums I must admit to barely giving them a second glance as all crocodilians (while fascinating) are not the most exciting animal to view. I wonder if the public will eventually miss the antics of the otters once the thrill of seeing a white alligator fades away.
When I visited this aquarium a year-and-a-half ago there were Asian small-clawed otters in this exhibit, and while that species is extremely common in captivity at least otters are far more active than alligators. After seeing many white gators at various zoos and aquariums I must admit to barely giving them a second glance as all crocodilians (while fascinating) are not the most exciting animal to view. I wonder if the public will eventually miss the antics of the otters once the thrill of seeing a white alligator fades away.
I certainly am excited that the aquarium received these alligators ssince this is the first exhibit I've seen that allowed me to get within one inch of them (along With Mighty Mike's exhibit). On the other hand I am extremely disappointed that the otters were taken off display. They were the one species I always looked froward to seeing on my visits. Maybe if the two aren't aggressive towards each other they can once again put them both back in the same exhibit (as they started out doing).
Crocodilians might not be as constantly lively as otters (which are also not 100% active 24h/day, btw), but they sure are classic zoo animals and very popular among the majority of zoo visitors, in particular when they are very big and/or somehow peculiar, like these amelanistic American alligators. The latter may appear to be boring to you because you've seen a bunch, but to the average zoo visitor they're equally impressive as white tigers, with whom they share the fate of any color morph bred for generating money.
