It's finally here! So while USA have Florence, Hong Kong have Mangkhut. Schools are closed and so I’m here to write. Wish all of you in USA good luck. So…. I went to Japan in July as you guys might know, but I’m so busy that I didn’t write up the review until now. Now I got a full day at home, I can get on and write about all those beautiful creature I have seen during July. July 9th is expected to rain so I went to Toba Aquarium. Of course I’m aiming for the star, the rare dugong. I get to the aquarium early at 8:45 that I’m the first visitor(actually the second, my mom being first) into the aquarium. The aquarium opens at 9 and I spend at least 2 hours in this small but interesting aquarium. Consider I’m not a fish person, that shows that how much this aquarium provide. The aquarium is divided into A to K section, with the B section(with gray seal and sea lion) not opened in my visit during there. Of course the star is all located between G to K section, but there are a lot more to see. The mammal list is very impressive: Dugong, West African manatee, finless porpoise(in two tanks at least 7 animals), Commerson’s dolphin , Baikal seal, Spotted seal , California sea lion, Stellar sea lion, Walrus, sea otter, ASCO, Eurasian beaver and Capybara. Despite the amazing list, the animal enclosure is not truly impressive. Most of them are exhibited inside a tank of nothing but water. The space is also too small. The cetaceans’ is acceptable and they try to provide enrichment with a ball. But the pinniped’s exhibit? Just give you a few photos. As you all can see, the exhibit is nothing except concrete and water. This is also the case for the walrus and the sea otter. Clearly too small and too little for the animals to do. More land area is a must and natural rocks and ground is needed too. Anyway moving on, the (non-penguin) bird exhibit is also not great. There are 3 flamingos in a small exhibit (on the roof), two species of pelican with an exhibit that is not-flyable and too less water, and then there is the weird exhibit with capybara mixed with crested ibis in indoor with water contain fish species that is for displayed. The flooded forest exhibit is mainly for herptiles except for the fishing cat, and all those vivarium is acceptable. A very big snapping turtle is present with other smaller turtles Also somewhat strangely a Harris’s hawk is in a backstage area. The other are the usual build inside the wall vivarium, contain frogs. Sandy area for tortoise and a few bigger terrarium for python and chameleon. The fishing cat exhibit have enough water, and I’ve heard they will put live fish into it (although I don’t think I saw any). The other area are not of my interested, but the Japanese forest exhibit is huge and it’s landscape is beautiful, together with a great height and wallpaper, create a grand view of the Japanese mountains. The K area contains giant isopod as well as other deep sea weirdos, such as lobster baby and some sort of sea cucumber. Also there are some weird sharks eggs which is interesting to see. The rainforest area (which contains the weird mix exhibit) also have freshwater fishes in it. The arapima/red tailed catfish exhibit provide a view into the South America, and fly river turtle mixed with African manatee is also some sort of strange. The Japanese sea area contains three finless porpoise and a lot of fish native to Japan. The tank next to the area entrance contains dozens of moray eel, which is the most I have seen in a tank. Of course there are more fish such as grouper and carps. The tank in the lower floor contains the must in Japanese aquarium: Japanese spider crab(which is huge). At last there is the oceans. Beautiful coral tanks together with squid or coral fishes form a beautiful view, and nearby are pipefish which I have no idea what species it is. The main tank contains a lot of fish with some fish groups (also I have no idea what species of fish) and there is a crayfish corner next to the ocean section. So this is all the area. As I said before, the highlights would be the marine mammals. I’m sure Toba can triumph through tons of aquarium in the category “marine mammals”. However, the exhibit can be much bigger for the mammals and the birds. Other exhibit is acceptable, with the Japanese river the most appealing. This is an aquarium of its own kind. It holds the most species with ~1000 of them, and it doesn’t have a huge tank or huge fishes. However it has the mermaid of the sea and more. With the sydney’s dugong recently died, I would strongly recommend to visit here ASAP. I enjoy this aquarium just because of the marine mammals, and I’m sure you all will enjoy it too even if you’re not a fish lover.
