Eve and I love aquariums (aquaria?) I think I've loved them longer - she admits that she used to be more of a mammal girl but has really come around to the marine side of thing (or freshwater). We have Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto where we went for the first time when Eve was fourteen. It's all pretty cool, but there's one part where you stand on a conveyor-belt type thing and go beside a giant tank with fish and rays and small sharks, and then under a transparent tunnel where they swim over you, and I always want to just get to the end and walk back to do it all over again.
Matt and I went again a couple of years ago when we were in Toronto for his cousin's wedding, and Eve went with her housemates last study break - they had a great time, except one of them thought she kept having to pee because of all the water but then realized she was developing a UTI. I told Eve they have to do a repeat to overwrite the negative part.
When we were deciding whether to travel to Charlotte and Atlanta in May, and whether Eve would come with us, the fact that there's a giant aquarium in Atlanta was a sizable tipping factor. When we were planning the Vancouver trip it was a foregone conclusion.
Are aquariums ethical? I don't really know. The ones we go to are accredited and seem to do a lot for conservation and rehabilitation - many of the seals at Vancouver were injured in boat incidents so are there for safety. One is blind and the trainer carries a maraca around so the seal knows where to go for the bucket of fish. The Georgia Aquarium has the highest rating under the Animal Welfare Act, but I can't really claim that I know exactly how reputable that is. None of the water tanks look small and none of the marine life looks cramped or unhappy, but that is all I know for sure.
Also, I just fucking love watching sea otters. And I enjoy how many fish share my resting bitch face. And sloths are fucking adorable. And it's always fun taking Eve and Marianna anywhere.
Turtle pic possibly NSFW?
3 comments:
I like aquariums/ia because my younger daughter was a fanatic for sea otters. They are fascinating creatures and I too could watch them for a long time.
Jellyfish look so primordial. And I don't understand sloths but I do not begrudge them being there (but in an aquarium?).
Very clever and amusing photos posed by the younger generation there! They brought a smile to my face.
I've only been to a handful of aquariums in my life, but they are cool. I did really like Ripley's in Toronto. We got to feed and touch sting rays and it was soooo cool.
My background is Biology and I know that zoos and aquariums get a bad rap (for some good reasons), but I also think that zoos and aquariums are disproportionately the motivating factor for inspiring a lot of young kids to pursue things like vet school, conservation work, marine biology, etc. So I do fear we throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater in some cases. Obviously some animals should never be held in the conditions they're in, but when it's done properly it really can inspire the next generation in incredible ways.
The jellyfish are almost always my favourite.
At Ripley's I thought it was hilarious to step on a scale and instead of your weight it would tell you how much you'd be worth as a tuna!
My first trip to Vancouver was when I was about 14, so let's call it 1989. This was still the time where they had killer whales in relatively small tanks and I remember seeing the poor flopped over fin on that killer whale as it did little tricks for fish. I also remember going to Sea World when I was 12, in California, and it was the same thing. I guess that was pre-Free Willy. Anyway, that was a big memory of the Vancouver Aquarium and obviously I never wanted to go after that - but of course it's all different now. We went to the big aquarium in Maui and it's really cool - a lot of jellyfish and smaller things.
There's always controversy with regards to zoos, etc., and I think that back in the days of my childhood things were pretty dire. But now there is so much conservation work. At the Calgary Zoo, there are grizzlies there whose mother was hit by a train, and they would have died otherwise. So it's never black and white.
Anyway! Glad you had so much fun!
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