National Aquarium in Baltimore National Aquarium, Baltimore Updates and Events

Kevin2342 said:
An educator just told me about it at the Blacktip Reef demo. He said it is to give the animals more space as the exhibit is very narrow and not that big overall.

And the picture that @TinoPup posted on the holding pool, it’s way too small for sharks, so I speculate it’s just for the stingray.
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Please don't speculate after someone tells you what something is. I took the photo. The photo is of the shark holding tank.
 
red river hog said:
Some of their rarer herps and birds include Saw-shelled Turtle, Bay-headed Tanager, Razorbill, White-tailed Trogon, White-throated Snapping Turtle, Gibba Turtle, Big-headed Amazon River Turtle, Kimberley Snake-necked Turtle, Plains Death Adder, Golden Grosbeak, Cotinga River Toadhead Turtle, Lovely Poison Frog, Green-and-gold Tanager, and Mulga Parrot
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Thanks. If you don't mind me asking, where are all of these species located?

Do you have any information about rare fish species at the aquarium? I understand that this information is probably more difficult to determine given that they're fish and all, but anything helps.
 
wild boar said:
Thanks. If you don't mind me asking, where are all of these species located?

Do you have any information about rare fish species at the aquarium? I understand that this information is probably more difficult to determine given that they're fish and all, but anything helps.
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I can think of the following rare species:
Titan triggerfish, naked goby, gag grouper, largetooth sawfish, barramundi, black grouper, Mouth Almighty, Berney's shark catfish, leopard whipray, red-claw crayfish, round ribbontail ray, humphead wrasse, snowy grouper, crevally jcak, Chesapeake nettle, pallid sturgeon, and there are PLENTY more I am forgetting about. National has a ton of rare species.
 
wild boar said:
Thanks. If you don't mind me asking, where are all of these species located?

Do you have any information about rare fish species at the aquarium? I understand that this information is probably more difficult to determine given that they're fish and all, but anything helps.
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All the Austrian animals are located in Australia: Wild Extremes. All the rainforest animals are located in the Upland Tropical Rainforest and Amazon River Forest. The alcids are in the Sea Cliffs exhibit on Level 4. The non Australian fishes are scattered across the Pier 3 Blue Wonders building between the gallery and ring tank exhibits.
 
The National Aquarium will begin construction of their Floating Wetlands this fall and is set to open in mid-2024. While a number of projects originally announced in 2016, including this and the National Dolphin Sanctuary, went radio silent, the Aquarium has been diligently working on both while also addressing critical infrastructure needs (such as the Rainforest roof replacement). The $14 million price tag for the Wetlands project was completely funded last fall through philanthropic donations.

A series of floating wetland islands will be placed in between Piers 3 and 4 while also being linked with a series of barges and docks. Additional work includes softening the piers to create more visitor access to the water, add additional trees, and revamp the Aquarium's ticketing center.

National Aquarium's floating wetland project on track for 2024
 
NAIB Volunteer said:
The National Aquarium will begin construction of their Floating Wetlands this fall and is set to open in mid-2024. While a number of projects originally announced in 2016, including this and the National Dolphin Sanctuary, went radio silent, the Aquarium has been diligently working on both while also addressing critical infrastructure needs (such as the Rainforest roof replacement). The $14 million price tag for the Wetlands project was completely funded last fall through philanthropic donations.

A series of floating wetland islands will be placed in between Piers 3 and 4 while also being linked with a series of barges and docks. Additional work includes softening the piers to create more visitor access to the water, add additional trees, and revamp the Aquarium's ticketing center.

National Aquarium's floating wetland project on track for 2024
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Wonderful! I just was just looking at the initial plans for this a couple of nights ago :)
 
I went to the aquarium today.
- The dolphins are expected to move in the next 3-5 years. They were originally supposed to move around 2020 but that was delayed due to covid. When the dolphins move, that whole building the dolphins currently live will be renovated.
- In the Upland Tropical Rain Forest, all the parrots go off exhibit around the afternoon time, but there is no set time as it all depends on staffing. They can be destructive so they cannot be on exhibit when the bird staff are not around. Also, the blue-crowned motmot is off exhibit recovering from an injury, but is expected to return in a month or two.
- In the rain forest, the best place to view the golden lion tamarins from a distance is the left corner of the top deck. You used to be able to see better from the lower deck but in front near the right corner of the lower deck is now covered by plants so it’s harder. However, they like to hide a lot, so most times you won’t see them. I was there twice, the first time I didn’t see them but the second time I was lucky and they were moving around and not hiding. Even when they were on exhibit, they were not seen a lot of times because they liked hiding in the trees and now they’re so old and even way more difficult to see, considering they like to rest and hide more and you could only see them from a far distance in their off-exhibit monkey suite in the far left corner of the rainforest.
- In the Maryland: Mountains of the Sea exhibit on the second floor, the clearnose skate in the Atlantic shelf tank is currently sick and off exhibit and the sign is gone. He is elderly and used to live in the Living Seashore when he was younger. However, he is expected to return soon and the sign will come back.
- In Blacktip Reef, we are down to six male Blacktip Reef sharks. All of them are around 15 years old and Blacktip Reef sharks usually only live in their early teens so they’re really old. The exhibit started with 10 males and 10 females, four males have died over the years as they got old and the females were sent elsewhere because they started fighting with the males.
 
Kevin2342 said:
I went to the aquarium today.
- The dolphins are expected to move in the next 3-5 years. They were originally supposed to move around 2020 but that was delayed due to covid. When the dolphins move, that whole building the dolphins currently live will be renovated.
- In the Upland Tropical Rain Forest, all the parrots go off exhibit around the afternoon time, but there is no set time as it all depends on staffing. They can be destructive so they cannot be on exhibit when the bird staff are not around. Also, the blue-crowned motmot is off exhibit recovering from an injury, but is expected to return in a month or two.
- In the rain forest, the best place to view the golden lion tamarins from a distance is the left corner of the top deck. You used to be able to see better from the lower deck but in front near the right corner of the lower deck is now covered by plants so it’s harder. However, they like to hide a lot, so most times you won’t see them. I was there twice, the first time I didn’t see them but the second time I was lucky and they were moving around and not hiding. Even when they were on exhibit, they were not seen a lot of times because they liked hiding in the trees and now they’re so old and even way more difficult to see, considering they like to rest and hide more and you could only see them from a far distance in their off-exhibit monkey suite in the far left corner of the rainforest.
- In the Maryland: Mountains of the Sea exhibit on the second floor, the clearnose skate in the Atlantic shelf tank is currently sick and off exhibit and the sign is gone. He is elderly and used to live in the Living Seashore when he was younger. However, he is expected to return soon and the sign will come back.
- In Blacktip Reef, we are down to six male Blacktip Reef sharks. All of them are around 15 years old and Blacktip Reef sharks usually only live in their early teens so they’re really old. The exhibit started with 10 males and 10 females, four males have died over the years as they got old and the females were sent elsewhere because they started fighting with the males.
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Are they still planning on a sanctuary or just transferring to a different facility?
 
Kevin2342 said:
I went to the aquarium today.
- The dolphins are expected to move in the next 3-5 years. They were originally supposed to move around 2020 but that was delayed due to covid. When the dolphins move, that whole building the dolphins currently live will be renovated.
- In the Upland Tropical Rain Forest, all the parrots go off exhibit around the afternoon time, but there is no set time as it all depends on staffing. They can be destructive so they cannot be on exhibit when the bird staff are not around. Also, the blue-crowned motmot is off exhibit recovering from an injury, but is expected to return in a month or two.
- In the rain forest, the best place to view the golden lion tamarins from a distance is the left corner of the top deck. You used to be able to see better from the lower deck but in front near the right corner of the lower deck is now covered by plants so it’s harder. However, they like to hide a lot, so most times you won’t see them. I was there twice, the first time I didn’t see them but the second time I was lucky and they were moving around and not hiding. Even when they were on exhibit, they were not seen a lot of times because they liked hiding in the trees and now they’re so old and even way more difficult to see, considering they like to rest and hide more and you could only see them from a far distance in their off-exhibit monkey suite in the far left corner of the rainforest.
- In the Maryland: Mountains of the Sea exhibit on the second floor, the clearnose skate in the Atlantic shelf tank is currently sick and off exhibit and the sign is gone. He is elderly and used to live in the Living Seashore when he was younger. However, he is expected to return soon and the sign will come back.
- In Blacktip Reef, we are down to six male Blacktip Reef sharks. All of them are around 15 years old and Blacktip Reef sharks usually only live in their early teens so they’re really old. The exhibit started with 10 males and 10 females, four males have died over the years as they got old and the females were sent elsewhere because they started fighting with the males.
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A few clarifications:
- Dolphin Discovery - there are no public timelines for the dolphin transfer to avoid unnecessary public confusion. Pier 4 just completed a Phase 1 Dolphin Discovery refresh with Phase 2 expected later this year
- Upland Tropical Rainforest - the Blue crowned mot-mot will not return to the exhibit. There is ongoing vector control so all predatory birds were not returned to the exhibit post roof replacement. As for the parrots, the macaws are not flighted and the yellow headed Amazons are quite old so they are removed from the exhibit daily not for their destructive behavior but rather the risk of them falling to the ground or ending up in the various pools and drowning overnight. The only parrot on permanent display is a female sun conure. The blue headed parrots are expected to return on exhibit eventually.
 
Neil chace said:
Why would there be? The blacktip reef sharks at NAIB aren't considered geriatric, and are about twenty-five years younger than the oldest blacktip reef sharks in AZA facilities.
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I guess I didn't realize that.
But still, given how many fewer Blacktip reef sharks the exhibit has now compared to what it used to have, I wonder if the aquarium wants to add any additional younger Blacktip reef sharks to the exhibit.
 
Vladimir Kovtun said:
I guess I didn't realize that.
But still, given how many fewer Blacktip reef sharks the exhibit has now compared to what it used to have, I wonder if the aquarium wants to add any additional younger Blacktip reef sharks to the exhibit.
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It started with 20 very young sharks. Then cut in half to 10 (females were removed and sent elsewhere) after an increase in the level of aggression witnessed. There are currently 5 in the exhibit now. There are no plans to ever go back to 20. Whether they get a new cohort in at the same time in the future, I'm not sure, but I'd suspect 5-7 individuals would be the max capacity moving forward.
 
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