http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-n...ida-aquariums-major-expansion-offi-ar-548403/ Plus I hear that the beavers are sharing their exhibit with the otters but aren't out for a while though.
The aquarium is under renovation. this summer 2 brand new exhibits will open. A bigger touch tank for stingrays and a exhibit called pythons. The pythons exhibit will teach people about how pythons are in the everglades. And the alligators are off exhibit due to renovation to the stairway that goes across the top of the exhibit.
Education is a major emphasis at the Florida Aqaurium and Pythons sounds like a great idea for a educational exhibit Team Tapir 223
The $15 million Rising Tides campaign is still chugging along, with an expected opening date of late 2016 for the new Mosaic Center and thus the expansion of the aquarium. There will be 35,000 sq. ft. of brand-new space and an additional 10,000 sq. ft. of renovated space. The link below contains a two-minute video of the exciting new development: The Rising Tides Campaign | The Florida Aquarium
The new Madagascar Exhibit sounds quite nice but -as being an Aquarium - do they have also some of Madagascars native ( endangered ) freshwaterfish, which would make an exelent extra to this Exhibit ?
It is a travelling, temporary exhibit popping up here and there. Here is a video when it was @ South Carolina Aquarium. [ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sCYkrTcvPPQ[/ame]
Florida Aquarium will work with the National Aquarium of Cuba to create a "Coral Greenhouse" Frozen coral semen unites Florida and Havana aquariums
Long-standing CEO Thom Stork has died. He took the position in 2002, having previously worked at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. Scott Rose, the aquarium's COO, will act as interim CEO. Longtime Florida Aquarium CEO Thom Stork dies at age 68
Coral-raising succes : The Florida Aquarium's Coral Reproduction Success Featured at World Aquaculture Society Conference
Here is an article about the aquarium's satellite campus and its newly-dedicated sea turtle rehab center: Florida Aquarium opens $4.1 million turtle rehab center at growing Apollo Beach campus
Wow, that's really cool! I had no idea that moon jelly nemocytes don't pose much harm to people. Unless somehow this is still an April Fool's trick. Then... not so cool.
When I visited Aquarium of the Pacific in 2011 there was a touch-tank with Moon Jellies and it was a really cool experience. It was in a temporary gallery, but it sounds as if Florida Aquarium will have 'Moon Bay' as a permanent exhibit.
Here is an article about the aquarium's attendance scoring its second-best year ever, behind the year that it opened: Florida Aquarium notches best attendance since the year it opened
I am a annual member at the Florida Aquarium. The moon jelly exhibit is pretty cool, definitely unique and fun. However, I have always felt the placement of the exhibit to be kind of out in the open. This touch tank replaced a ray/shark touch tank and it placed more or less in the entry lobby of the aquarium between the main exhibit area exit and the cafe. They also close the jelly touch tank at regular scheduled times and random times (without explanation). Out of the three times I have been in the last couple of months (always in the AM) the jelly tank has only been open once.
The aquarium just recorded its highest attendance in 24 years (more than 840,000 visitors) and now has announced that there will be 14 months of construction and expansion. It is all part of a $14 million capital campaign that includes the CIBC Aquatic Lounge gallery that opens next month, a new 'Wetlands Trail' that opens this summer, an overhaul of the 'Bays & Beaches' gallery that will become 'Shorelines' this fall and even a free walk-through butterfly garden in 2021. Florida Aquarium expanding as part of 25th anniversary | blooloop I'll point out that in the book that Tim and I wrote, America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums, the Florida Aquarium was selected as one of the 20 best aquariums in the USA. It sounds as if the facility is going to be even better in the near future!
