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In Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, there is a public aquarium called Georgia Aquarium. In its seven main galleries, it displays thousands of animals from hundreds of species, all of which are kept in more than 11 million US gallons (42,000 m3) of water. When the S.E.A. Aquariums in Singapore and the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China opened in 2012, the Georgia Aquarium has been the biggest aquarium in the world since its opening in 2005. It is still the biggest aquarium in the United States and the third largest in the world.
The Home Depot’s co-founder Bernard Marcus made a $250 million donation through his foundation, which was largely responsible for financing the construction and stocking of the new facility.
Whale sharks, beluga whales, California sea lions, bottlenose dolphins, and manta rays are a few of the aquarium’s well-known exhibits. Its main attraction is a whale shark exhibit that holds 6.3 million US gallons (24,000 m3).
Whale Sharks
The aquarium was built around a whale shark display that has a capacity of 6.3 million US gallons (24,000 m3), making it the first facility outside of Asia to hold the enormous animal. It had never been attempted before to transport whale sharks from Taiwan (by plane, truck, and boat). They were obtained from Taiwan’s yearly fishing kill quota, where they would have been consumed had the Aquarium not bought them. The most well-known exhibits at the aquarium were four young children with the names Ralph, Norton, Alice, and Trixie, which were taken from the main characters of The Honeymooners. Ralph and Norton passed away in 2007, however the Aquarium obtained two replacements that year (named Taroko and Yushan after Taiwan’s Jade Mountain and Taroko Gorge National Park, respectively) right before a prohibition on the catch of that species.
Manta rays
The aquarium is just one of four places in the world where a manta ray is on display. Nandi, the first manta ray in the aquarium and the first in the nation to be on display, was unintentionally trapped in nets meant to keep sharks off the South African coast. In 2008, she became a part of the Ocean Voyager Built by The Home Depot display. In September 2009, Tallulah was added as a second. In 2010, a third, Raven, was included.
Beluga whales
Up to five 11-foot (3 m) beluga whales have lived in the Aquarium at once. Three females, Marina, Natasha, and Natasha’s offspring, Maris, were added to the group of males Nico and Gasper, which were purchased from a Mexican theme park. The belugas were sent to SeaWorld San Antonio after Gasper and Marina passed away in 2007, where Nico passed away in 2009. In 2010, Natasha remained in San Antonio with a potential mate, and Maris and a new male, Beethoven, were brought back to the Georgia Aquarium. In November 2010, two young belugas, Grayson (a male) and Qinu (a female), both from San Antonio, were added.
Before relocating to the Shedd Aquarium in 2014, Beethoven and Maris had calves in 2012 and 2015, but neither of them survived. Maris passed away in 2015 as a result of a heart issue. Grayson was moved to the Shedd Aquarium in 2016, and SeaWorld Orlando loaned Aurek, Maple, and Nunavik to the Georgia Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium stated in June 2017 that Qinu’s first offspring, who was a product of Aurek, was due in the fall of 2017. In September 2017, Shedd Aquarium received Aurek as a breeding loan. On November 8, 2017, the Aquarium announced that Qinu’s calf had died as a result of complications during birth.
The beluga whale Maris gave birth to the female calf in 2012. Less than a week later, the underweight calf perished away. However, Maris’s second calf, born on Mother’s Day in 2015, would only live for roughly a month despite the fact that first-time mother calves have an extremely high mortality rate even in natural populations. In the same year, Maris passed suddenly in October, reigniting the debate over how effective and compassionate the captive beluga breeding programme was.
Prior to SeaWorld’s termination of the deal, the aquarium had placed an order for their capture with the intention of sending them on breeding loans to associated parks like Shedd Aquarium and SeaWorld. The aquarium applied in 2015 to import 18 beluga whales from Russia. Following the National Marine Fisheries Service’s denial of the permit, Georgia Aquarium filed a lawsuit. Because Georgia Aquarium “failed to prove that its clearance would not result in the removal of more animals beyond those authorized by the permit,” a federal district judge ruled in September 2015 that the refusal will stand.
On January 14, 2020, the Georgia Aquarium announced that Whisper, a 20-year-old female seal, was due in April.
Exhibits
Seven galleries and displays house the aquarium’s animal inhabitants: Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager Built by The Home Depot, Cold Water Quest, Southern Company River Scout, Dolphin Coast, Truist Pier 225, and Aquanaut Adventure: A Discovery Zone. Each exhibit relates to a particular setting.
The majority of the mammal species in the Aquarium’s collection may be found in The Cold Water Quest, which also includes animals from polar and temperate regions of the world. This exhibit features two different species of puffins, an 800,000 US gallon (3,000,000 L) habitat for beluga whales, southern sea otters, Japanese spider crabs, weedy sea dragons, and African penguins.
The largest exhibit, Ocean Voyager, with thousands of fish in 6.3 million U.S. gallons (24,000,000 L) of water. It is the largest indoor aquatic environment in the world, measuring 284 feet 126 foot (87 m 38 m) with a depth of between 20 and 30 ft (6.1 and 9.1 m). This exhibit, which highlights the whale sharks and manta rays at the Aquarium as well as a 100-foot (30-meter) underwater acrylic tunnel and one of the largest viewing windows in the world, is intended to highlight the life of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.
There are California sea lions in the Truist Pier 225 gallery. The 2015 mass sea lion stranding in California resulted in the rescue of two of its six animals, Jupiter and Neptune. There are other scheduled speakers at this expo.
A number of smaller exhibits and hands-on activities, such as an augmented reality scavenger hunt utilizing the aquarium’s mobile app, may be found in the Aquanaut Adventure: A Discovery Zone.
The Georgia Aquarium’s newest gallery is called Sharks! Predators of the Deep. A new 20-foot-deep tank with great hammerhead sharks, sand tigers, tigers, silvertip sharks, silky sharks, zebra sharks, and round ribbontail rays was added when it first opened on October 23, 2020. It has a dive cage where guests can immerse themselves in the tank. Visitors can walk alongside rays and zebra sharks in the wading pool there. The aquarium also has a virtual reality simulator that transports visitors through prehistoric times and a 4D theater sponsored by KIA.
225 Baker St NW
Atlanta, GA 30313
Area: 13 acres
Opened: November 23, 2005
Founded: 2005
Phone: (404) 581-4000
Owner: Georgia Aquarium
Number of animals: 100,000
Notable animals: Ralph, Nandi, Norton, Grayson, Trixie, Alice, Taroko, Gasper, Beethoven, Yushan, Qinu, Tallulah, Nico, Billi
Exhibits: Ocean Voyager, Sharks! Predators of the Deep, MORE
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