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British Sharks Forced To Take Lessons In Mealtime Etiquette
We're sorry, sharks. It turns out we've been misunderstanding you all this time. You don't want to attack us you just want a big hug.
At least that's the theory the keepers at British aquarium Sea Life are working on at the moment. They believe that sharks can be trained to feed one by one when the keeper tells them, and even to roll over and have their belly tickled. With a Pavlov's-dog-style repetitive training system, they say the smarter sharks will get the idea within three months.
There are quite a few advantages of such a system, not least that the keepers are less likely to be gobbled up by the sharks they're meant to be taking care of. Experts also say that it should improve "shark welfare" and make them happier in captivity.
And it could even make feeding time a whole lot cuter for us aquarium visitors. They plan to try banging a gong as a sign for the sharks to queue up for dinner time. We'd pay a bit extra to bang the gong ourselves.
Related Stories:
· Sea Life [Official Site]
· Sharks To Be Trained Like Dolphins at Sea Life [news.com.au]
· Shark Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Wang-Qian]
Tags: Animals / Aquariums / Sharks / Adventure Travel / Swimming / Scuba / Snorkeling / → All Tags
Where to Swim with Whale Sharks and Downward Dog with The Fishes
When the Animal Overlords take over, we can rest assured that our own Shira Levine will be safe from persecution.
We're going to try to be more thoughtful the next time we eat sushi and just stick with the faux crabmeat after indulging in peaceful day at the Georgia Aquarium. This the only place in the world where you can swim in a giant fish tank with a couple of 23-foot long whale sharks.
The Atlanta fish farm hosts "Swim with Gentle Giants," swimming and diving tours in their football field-sized, eight-million gallon Ocean Voyager tank. To say the underwater experience is thrilling is an understatement.
These fish (which include massive manta rays and sting rays, guitarfish, zebra sharks, cownose rays and wobbegong sharks) are as friendly as puppies and kitties. They like to swim up really close and skim along your body before darting off into the faux deep blue.
Tags: Aquariums / Wild Animal Travel / Octopuses / → All Tags
Cephalopods Gone Wild: Crafty Octopus Causes Flood in Santa Monica
Prepare to welcome your new octopus overlords. Workers at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium are mopping up after a curious female California two-spotted octopus loosened a valve in its tank on Thursday, releasing at least 200 gallons (757 liters) of seawater onto the brand new floor. National Geographic reports that such behavior is typical among octopuses, due to their unique combination of strength, dexterity, curiosity, and intelligence. In other words, be very afraid.
Tags: Theme Parks / Legoland / Aquariums / → All Tags
Theme Parks Travel: Swimming with the Fishies
On August 11, the newest theme park in the Legoland empire is set to throw open its doors in Carlsbad, California. The Sea Life Aquarium promises even more masterpieces of Lego engineering. The 36,000 square-foot aquarium will offer fun in the form of play zones, marine exhibits and, of course, Lego sculptures.
Royalty abounds at the park, as it will feature its own seahorse kingdom in addition to a 360-degree ring of stingrays. The headlining attraction will certainly be the 175,000-gallon ocean display that recreates the Lost City of Atlantis with a 10-foot statue of Poseidon, a seven-foot Lego submarine and 72 more models that share their home with live fish and sharks.
The new park does require a separate admission from the original Legoland across the way; this one is $19. It's certainly a welcome addition to the Southern California amusement park lineup--even though it offers a tribute to plastic pieces instead of plastic ears.
Related Stories:
· Sea Life Aquarium [Official Site]
· Theme Parks coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: william.ward]
Tags: Aquariums / Animals / Zoos / → All Tags
Weird Animal Travel: Come See the Seahorse Dad-to-Be
The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta declares itself the biggest in the world, but its newest attraction is actually quite small: A rare and threatened sea dragon is pregnant and scheduled to give birth in mid-July.
Marine maniacs know it's the male sea dragons and sea horses that carry the young (take that, Pregnant Man!) and in the case of the weedy sea dragon, the aquarium had trouble getting their seven specimens to mate at all.
Now that one is confirmed pregnant, it shouldn't be too long before baby dragons populate the aquarium's tanks--a triumph for an institution still getting over the loss of a beloved beluga whale earlier this year.
Related Stories
· Endangered Sea Dragon at Aquarium Pregnant [AP, via Yahoo]
· Movie Set Travel: Meet the Browns in Atlanta [Jaunted]
· Animals coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: hamwithcam]
Tags: Movie Set Travel / Aquariums / Tyler Perry / → All Tags
Movie Set Travel: Meet the Browns
"Meet the Browns" is a city-country story of Brenda, a single mom living in inner-city Chicago, who discovers her father--a man she's never met--has passed away. She travels with her kids to his hometown, Atlanta, where she "Meets the Browns": The fun-loving, cozy Southern fam she never knew she had.
Angela Bassett plays Brenda and the film was written, directed and stars Tyler Perry. (Translation: If you're not a Perry fan, skip this one). We hear it's full of crazy characters and pranks.
One of the brightest spots in this film? Atlanta. Check out what to do on your next visit:
Where To Stay: Ellis Hotel Check into one of the city's hippest spots at The Ellis. This renovated boutique hotel is in a restored 1913 historic landmark. The mood's fun and lively and they've got tons of extras like neckties for forgetful male guests and a female-only floor with a secure entry for women traveling alone. Eat before you head home from the bars though, as they only offer room service breakfast.
Where To Hang Out: The Earl An Atlanta institution, The Earl is a great first stop on a night out. The bar's fun and there's guaranteed live music every night of the week. Bring your appetite and dig into specialties like jerk tuna or PBR battered gator fingers.
Where To Spend the Day: The Georgia Aquarium Splurge on the $23 admission and visit the world's largest aquarium, featuring 8 million gallons of water filled with everything from whale sharks to belugas. Known for its innovation, the aquarium's even growing its own massive coral reef.
Related Stories:
· Atlanta Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Movie Set Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: blueangel]
Tags: Sharks / Aquariums / Zoos / Travel Deals / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Sydney's Animal Life Gets Cheaper
We feel like Sydney's tourist attractions have been getting more and more expensive in recent years, so we're quite pleased to see a decent discount deal coming out for the Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium. They've just joined forces to create a "Discovery Pass" which gives you a discount of around 20 percent if you head to both of them, as long as your visits are within three months of one another.
After considering shark sightings at the Aquarium, we're keen to get back there soon; the koalas at Sydney Wildlife World have such a massive cute factor they're pretty much irresistible.
The new deal means an adult pass for both places is now A$46.50 ($43), more than a $10 discount. That more than makes up for the unfavorable exchange rate for those traveling on US dollars. Come on, those Sydney sharks are waiting to smile at you.
Related Stories:
· Discovery Pass [Official Site]
· Safely Seeing Sharks in Sydney [Jaunted]
· Aquariums coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: andrew_mrt1976]
Tags: Aquariums / Sharks / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Safely Seeing Sharks in Sydney
We're not recommending that you get really close to a shark, but a new ride at the Sydney Aquarium seems like a good way to try it without feeling too threatened. The Shark Explorer is a glass-bottomed boat which takes you on a journey over the surface of the Aquarium's Great Barrier Reef exhibition, with a perfect view of all the marine life below.
The ride costs an extra A$10 on your entrance cost, and only lasts ten minutes, but it's a lot cheaper than heading up to the Great Barrier Reef yourself. And with ten or so sharks swimming around underneath you, this is a good place to get close up to sharks that are around the same size as your boat. Just don't be tempted to jump in with them: They're probably not as friendly as other Australians.
Related Stories:
· Sydney Aquarium Opens New Reef Ride [Jamble]
· Sydney Aquarium [Official Site]
· Sharks coverage [Jaunted]
· Sydney Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Simont]
Tags: Tourist Traps / Japan Travel / Aquariums / Osaka Aquarium / → All Tags
Tourist Trap: Overload of Cuteness In Osaka
There are actually a few reasons why you should visit the Osaka Aquarium next time you're traveling through the land of sushi. As the maker of this video freely admits, it is a bit of a "cheesy, tourist trap kinda place", but that ain't always bad, is it?
The biggest reason you should mingle with the masses is simply the cute factor. Look at these otters! Look at these penguins! Don't you just wanna scratch them under their chins? They are undeniably cute and they undeniably want you to come visit them.
Related Stories:
· Tourist Traps [Jaunted]
· The Sunfish Diet: Osaka Aquarium [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Osaka [HotelChatter]
[Video: BusanKevin]
Tags: Aquariums / Sharks / → All Tags
Shy Sharks Seek Suitable Mate
Sharks have feelings too, you know, and sharks across Germany are having trouble getting their act together to produce new baby sharks. Whether it's performance anxiety or a feminist protest (during mating male sharks often bite the females), sharks in the eight Sea Life Centre aquariums in Germany are not reproducing well.
So in an effort to produce future generations of sharks for future tourists to see, Sea Life staff have started piping romantic music into their aquariums. Nobody seems to know if the plan will work, but figure music can't hurt and visitors enjoy requesting Barry White.
Related Stories:
· Aquarium coverage [Jaunted]
· Germany Hotels [HotelChatter]
[Photo Credit: teliko82]
Tags: Marine Parks / Aquariums / Sharks / → All Tags
Rare Pre-Historic Japanese Shark Makes It Big On YouTube
A rare prehistoric shark normally found a couple thousand feet below was captured off the shallow waters of Japan earlier this week and immediatley taken to Awashima Marine Park for "observation".
Marine biologists had just enough time to count the eel sharks teeth (300 razor sharp fangs), determine the fish was female, and shoot some footage and put it up on YouTube, before the prehistoric shark died. Frill sharks like this one usually inhabit deep sea waters between 400 and 4,200 feet and rarely come to the surface. They do however, show up from time to time in fishermen's nets off the coast of Japan. We are guessing that as soon as the shark was spotted it had little chance of survival, because it was so close to the surface, then again we don't know anything about prehistoric frill sharks.
As for the marine park where the shark spent its final hours, Awashima Marine Park is a small island in Uchiura Bay. The whole island is a maritime park and you can visit by sea-crossing aerial cableway from the opposite side of the sea, Shigedera station. You can learn more about the park on the Awashima Marine Park website, if you know Japanese--the site looks eerily like a Super Mario Brothers world.
Related Stories:
· Travel Stories in Japan [Jaunted]
Tags: Japan Travel / Aquariums / Osaka Aquarium / → All Tags
The Sunfish Diet: Low in Carbs, High in Dried Shrimp
There are a lot of biggest things, but we think when the Osaka Aquarium calls itself one of the largest aquariums in the world, they are probably right. A visit to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in Japan's second city starts with a long escalator ride to the top, followed by fascinating hours of slow descent through the winding passages above and below the water.
The structure contains over 11,000 tons of water, and there's a whole lot more than fish to see: Penguins, monkeys and birds round out the mix. A star exhibit at the deep end of the aquarium is the Ocean Sunfish, a flabby-looking fellow with strange expressions. The aquarium staff describe how the Sunfish eats:
he rushes to the feeder keeping his mouth small and round eyes wide open. He skillfully eats a mixture of ground shrimp and cuttlefish in small bite sizes. Once his feeding time is over, he looks disappointed.Did it never occur to them that ground shrimp every day would make anyone a bit disappointed? If you drop by the Osaka Aquarium, give an extra big smile to the Sunfish, and try and slip a more interesting snack into his tank.
[Image via heavylift]
