According to their website The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, UT will be opening a North American river otter exhibit in January, 2012. The Living Planet Aquarium Home
Plans are moving forward to move the aquarium to a new larger, purpose-built facility. Draper OKs plan to help The Living Planet aquarium move | The Salt Lake Tribune Plans are to close the current facility in October of this year, and open the new aquarium in spring of next year. Living Planet aquarium to double in size
The Living Planet Aquarium opens new River Otter exhibit in the Discover Utah gallery. The Living Planet Aquarium Exhibiting Three New Animals and a Unique New Experience to enjoy Zoo and Aquarium Visitor News
I just posted some pictures of the graphics which were on display at the aquarium talking about what the new aquarium will look like. Some pretty cool stuff! Hopefully they get it all done in time for the opening in summer 2013.
I'm working on it! If we do everything that is on the docket then our new aquarium should be a pretty impressive place.
I just posted the actual concept art in the gallery. Mind you this is concept art so it is just rough ideas and themes, primarily to generate interest and excitement.
New sharks arrive at the aquarium from Australia: New baby sharks introduced to Sandy aquarium | Deseret News
We got in Blacktip Reef as well as Grey Reef (AKA Blacktail Reef) which there is only one other aquarium in the US that has this species. Also we got a whitespot wedgefish and a giant shovelnose ray. We're pretty excited! In a few weeks we will be converting the stingray touchpool into a cold water touch pool with cortez rays, bat rays, urchins, seastars, sea cucumbers, etc.
Draper aquarium faces delays, financial difficulties | Deseret News How long before this cookie crumbles and is bought out by Landry's, Sea Life or Ripley's? Maybe Hogle Zoo will kick in some dough and make it a sister institution?
No, the aquarium will not be bought by Landry's, Sea Life or Ripley's... The aquarium is owned by the city of Draper and is nearly complete. It looks amazing and unique (if I do say so myself). There have been delays for all the reasons listed in the article above, but in my opinion, since I'm on the site every day and have been involved with it from conception, an aquarium ain't an easy thing to build! Each one is unique and the variables involved are enormous. There really are set backs (pipes that burst, tanks poured with imperfect concrete work, delays in materials, weather(!)) that block critical paths for days and sometimes weeks. I can tell you that the people working on it are trying to make the best aquarium that we can. It looks amazing and people are going to be blown away.
Ah, good to know. It looks ok from photos on their facebook. Like, a mix of Ripley's and Denver. The bridge looks fun. Shark tank has a tunnel. Penguin exhibit is small, but the reverse j-shape window is cool. Utah section looks to be the best part. Did they even put in a Orinoco Crocodile exhibit? I know they are interested in holding some according to CAG.
I just uploaded 50 brand-new photos of the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium into the gallery, and I reviewed the facility while on my 20 day/65 zoo summer road trip.
Snowleopard I am looking forward to reading your review. (Did you already post it here?) Fantastic photos. I'm especially excited since a lot of these were empty when I left the project in January. If anyone has any questions about how this aquarium was made I will be more than happy to detail the process- which may be of use to those who are designers or find themselves building for their own zoo or aquarium. Feel free to contact me in PM as well. It was a huge project and I was directly involved with nearly every step so I can give you a unique insight into how something like this gets made.
