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by Monica Atkins 5 Comments

“Every time you dive, you hope you’ll see something new – some new species. Sometimes the ocean gives you a gift, sometimes it doesn’t.” – James Cameron

The director of Titanic, James Cameron, directed a sleeper film many years before his blockbuster called Abyss. In this science fiction film, he takes the viewers to the bottom of the ocean. While the main characters encounter a benevolent alien life (I did say it was science fiction), his quote reminds us that there is a hidden world in the ocean.

Watching aquatic life has a different tempo to watching animals in a zoo or safari. The soundtrack of the aquarium has a mellow rhythm as we watch uniquely shaped creatures that spark our imagination.

So let’s review the benefits of visiting an aquarium:

Enhances Vocabulary

For infants, there will be extensive visual stimulation which is great for their cognitive development. Talk about what they are seeing and identify animals. For toddlers, this is a great location to further develop vocabulary through identification. Read the signs posted as not only will they learn new words, you might as well. More importantly, reading out loud is great modeling that encourages your children to enjoy reading. For preschoolers, go a step beyond and discuss comparisons. While for my children, most fish are going to be fish, we have started identifying penguins as such and not birds.

Hands On Learning

Touch Tanks are usually one of the features available for the curious. Our eyes will definitely have plenty of visual stimulation, but we also absorb information through touch. For children, it is another method to better understand our world. In some of the aquariums we have visited our children have touched: sharks (the nice friendly kind), Stingrays, shrimp, hermit crabs and starfish to name a few. The tactile feedback provides another layer to this learning experience.

Such unique textures can be explored at the Touch Tank.

Encourages Relaxation

In the four aquariums we have visited there is an internal soundtrack being played that has helped calm me. I am a very high-strung individual, but in the aquarium it maintains a zen like quality. Not once have we felt pushed or our space invaded and this is important when you are sensitive to too many people or noises.

At the Maritime Aquarium, we loved watching the jellyfish shadowed in purple in a circular room. As a family, we shared a quiet moment. A similar moment was found in the Tropical Southwest Diver section of the Georgia Aquarium. I call this a meditative space. It is a great time to just sit and breathe. As well, this is a good place for your child to just appreciate life.

Sparks Imagination

At one point Christopher Columbus mistakenly identified manatees as mermaids. If you don’t know what a manatee is then go visit an aquarium! There are unusual life forms under the sea and thus it is a great place to spark your child’s imagination. The diverse colors, shapes and textures can provide inspiration for our imagination. Visiting aquariums has helped me redefine what lives in the water and will definitely surprise you and your family.

The Real Deal

As much as we can research animals on the internet, there is no comparison like seeing that living creature in front of you. Watching videos of animals doesn’t accurately convey the size, proportion or behavior of the animal. Remember videos are edited to be interesting; however, watching a shark swim over your head is mesmerizing at the Georgia Aquarium.

Family Bonding

All the “oohs” and “ahs” lead to conversations which lead to family bonding. If you live near an aquarium, definitely investigate the cost of a membership to determine if that is a solid investment for your family. For some aquariums, membership is cheaper than a family of four visiting twice. If this becomes a special visit for the entire family, think of the memories it creates. From the touch tanks, to watching colorful fish swim, to looking at penguins or seals, it offers opportunities for the family to have a good time together.

We had so much fun trying to figure out which turtle shell suited us best.

Appeals to Different Types of Learners

You may begin to identify how your children learn differently than each other or yourself, but the aquarium can appeal to all different types of learners. Visual learners will be drawn to the vibrant colors of the coral reef fish or the glow in the dark fish (they actually exist and can be seen at the Adventure Aquarium). The auditory learner will be attracted to the tours and lectures, and if that is not available, definitely the sounds of the animals and visitors. The tactile learners will enjoy the displays with real life objects to touch as well as the touch tanks. The kinesthetic learner will definitely be walking around and exploring the various displays.

The Adventure Aquarium has some windows that puts you in the water as fish swim by your head.

Develop an Appreciation of Nature

If you can see it, you have a better appreciation of its magnitude. I had taken a boat ride in a rainforest when I was in college and watched caimans, small crocodiles in Latin America, swim without a care in the world. The tour guide informed us that if you respect them and do not encroach on their space they leave the residents alone. It was an interesting topic.

For my family, I cannot bring them to Costa Rica because of the cost; however I can bring them to the Maritime Aquarium or the Adventure Aquarium for a small cost and have my children watch, learn and begin to appreciate nature. As they mature, they will make informed decisions on how to interact and respect nature as well as caring for our environment.

Educational Programs

Aquariums will have educational programs specifically designed for various age groups but their availability depends on resources and funds. It is best to search their website online to see what you can download prior to visiting including the schedule of activities (and if there is a cost). At the Maritime Aquarium, for a small fee, children can decorate and build their own wooden boat. Some aquariums also have webcams available which might interest your children before the visit and as a follow-up to the visit.

Encourages Scientific Exploration and Discovery

A friend of mine who I respect immensely and is a curious individual by nature, is raising an amazing young woman who is curious as well. Entering kindergarten, she has a scientific journal where she records her observations and drawings of animals and plants. She definitely qualifies as precocious. However, it encourages me to do similar activities that are age appropriate with my children.

When we visit an aquarium, we love to observe the animal’s behavior. As an anthropology major, we also observe the visitors at the aquarium. As my children age, we will begin to incorporate scavenger hunt sheets, bingo cards and observation sheets. My personal favorite activity is having your child research an animal before the visit. When they see the real animal in front of them, it provides them data for comparison of what they have researched. When you come home, have your child do a presentation of what they learned about that animal and then discuss their observations.

Aquariums are magical and scientific all at the same time. They provide lots of educational opportunities for your children as well as lifetime memories for the family. 

So what are you waiting for? Pack up the family and head out to your closest aquarium! Not one nearby, then plan a road trip!

Article compliments of Mommy University.

https://mommyuniversitynj.com/2014/08/20/10-educational-benefits-for-visiting-an-aquarium/

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As The Meg hits theaters, dive into what we really know about this chompy predator

By Katherine J. Wu

Apparently, this dead horse still needs beating: The megalodon is definitely extinct. But The Meg, a summer sharkfest blockbuster set to premiere on August 10, might have you believe otherwise. The film is certainly not billed—even facetiously—as a documentary (take note, Discovery Channel), but if the Jurassic Park franchise taught us anything, it’s that the spark of the imagination needs only the slightest passing breeze to roar into a conflagration.

“People ask me [if the megalodon is still alive] every day,” says Dana Eret, a curator of paleobiology at the New Jersey State Museum. He adds, for good measure: “The answer is no.”

The true story of the megalodon may not culminate in a jaw-dropping showdown of man versus shark—but its legacy is no less cinematic.

In its heyday, the megalodon was a force to be reckoned with. These gargantuan chompers first arose around 15.9 million years ago as one of the last strongholds of a now-extinct lineage of megatooth sharks. Running up to 60 feet long and weighing over 50 tons, the “meg” was one of the largest apex predators to ever exist—and certainly the most king-sized among sharks. Greg Skomal, a shark researcher and the recreational fisheries program manager at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, affectionately refers to them as “great white sharks on steroids.” 

Shark experts are confident that we live in a meg-less world. But would it be possible to fill that meg-sized hole in our hearts and bring it back, a la Jurassic Park? According to Ehret, “it’s just not gonna happen.” Science is probably even further from cloning these bitey behemoths into existence than, say, a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Theoretically, there are a couple ways this could happen—and both are dead ends. In the first, scientists could take a living descendant of an extinct creature and forage in its genome for ancient genes that have since gone dormant. Flipping these switches back on might allow the expression of some ancestral characteristics. It sounds crazy, but some researchers are working on turning back the chicken clock in the hopes of hitting dino paydirt. But the last of the megatooth lineage died out long ago.

The second way—starting from genetic scratch—is even tougher. To engineer a megalodon, scientists would probably need DNA—and this has so far eluded even the most dogged of divers. DNA isn’t built to last for millions of years.

Even if scientists get lucky enough to leech a few fragments of megalodon DNA out of their teeth, this would only be the tiniest of baby steps in the right direction. The vast majority of the puzzle pieces would still be missing—and without context, chunks of genes aren’t of much use. Sues, the paleobiologist, compares the process to attempting to assemble the Manhattan phone directory with just two phone numbers.

But let’s suspend our disbelief for the briefest of moments. Say a bizarre accident of genetic engineering were to happen—or a cavernous time portal were to ensnare a snarling specimen and spirit it three million years forward into the present. If the stars aligned, would megalodon prey on people?

“They wouldn’t even think twice about eating us,” says Sues. He pauses. “Or they would think we are too small or insignificant, like hors d’oeuvres.”

Pimiento agrees that humans wouldn’t be the first thing megalodon ordered off the menu: “We’re not fatty enough.” With far more blubbery options like whales and seals, megalodon wouldn’t waste their time chasing such lean, paltry morsels. But to be fair, food is food—dangle a human in the face of a ravenous meg and it probably wouldn’t turn up its nose.

In any case, there is no reason to fear a rogue meg attack the next time you hit up the beach: We reached the end of that fish tale long ago. But even after Ehret disappoints hopeful museum patrons with this news, he doesn’t like to let them sulk for long.

“The megalodon was cool,” he says. “But maybe stop trying to bring back things that are gone. Instead, go outside and appreciate all the things out there that are still alive today… they’re pretty amazing.”

This piece was originally published in Smithsonian Magazine August 3, 2018 

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The discovery strengthens the case that upright posture drove the evolution of dominant hands in humans

Figuring out how some species of kangaroo and wallaby evolved to be southpaws could help scientists understand how humans evolved handedness. Like us, these creatures from Down Under are bipedal: they stand on two legs, and the link between walking styles and hand preference may be more than a coincidence. The origins of handedness are much debated, but one leading theory suggests that upright posture is the key to developing a favorite side.

“It seems like bipedalism is a triggering factor that pushes forward the evolution of handedness,” says Malashichev, whose team reports their work this week in Current Biology. “Standing on your hind legs frees up your forelimbs, and you can do with them what you like.”

Human beings were once thought to be the only species with a consistent bias toward one hand. Estimates suggest that as many as nine out of every ten people are right-handed, and some studies say that this proportion hasn’t changed much since at least the time of the Neanderthals. Other biologists have tried to connect which hand we favor to asymmetries in the human brain. For instance, previous work posited that the evolution of handedness is linked to the development of language in the brain. That fits with observations showing that in 90 percent of righties, the left half of the brain—which controls their dominant hand—also houses regions specialized for speech. But then again, 70 percent of lefties are left-brained for language as well.

While it’s long been known that individual animals other than humans can favor one limb over another, scientists originally expected a 50:50 split in preference across entire species. But like so many other characteristics thought to make our species special—such as the ability to recognize oneself in the mirror—the notion of handedness as a unique human quality has been coming under fire. “These results, in addition to research conducted with other mammal species, truly do challenge the traditional belief that handedness is a uniquely human trait,” says Stephanie Braccini, curator of mammals at Zoo Atlanta.

Braccini joined a cadre of researchers that, in the late 1980s, began to systematically and controversially argue for handedness in other primates. She showed that chimpanzees are more likely to favor one hand when standing than when sitting, scoring another point for the postural theory. And in the largest study of captive chimps, which included hundreds of animals across three facilities, Bill Hopkins at Georgia State University found about twice as many righties as lefties. He tested the chimps by having them dig peanut butter out of plastic tube. Images of the primates’ brains revealed compelling asymmetries.

Critics have countered that the primates could have picked up this behavior from their human keepers. Follow-up work in the wild has complicated the picture, suggesting that populations of chimps isolated from contract with people do tend to use their right hands for certain jobs, such as sponging up water with leaves, but favor their left for others, such as digging up termites with sticks. “They show a population-level bias that is different for different kinds of tasks,” says Hopkins, a cognitive neuroscientist.

Kangaroos seem to be more consistent. With support from the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration, Malashichev and two of his graduate students from Saint Petersburg State University spent 18 weeks tramping around Australia with cameras. Living in bungalows in the bush and tents in Tasmania, they painstakingly photographed dozens of wild kangaroos and wallabies going about their daily lives. Whether tearing up grass to eat or scratching their noses, most of the animals tended to favor their left arms. Two species studied by the team, the eastern grey kangaroo and the red kangaroo, led from the left both for gathering food and grooming themselves. So did red-necked wallabies—with one exception. While down on all fours, the wallabies did not play favorites between their paws when feeding.

For the researchers, that exception further strengthened the link between upright posture and handedness. So did the behaviors of a third kangaroo species they observed at a zoo in Sydney: Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo. As its name suggests, this animal inhabits trees, living a more quadrupedal lifestyle that involves less walking around upright. It employed both paws equally for its day-to-day activities.

“This is one of the strongest studies I’ve seen demonstrating handed behavior,” says Richard Palmer, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Alberta, who was critical of Hopkins’ early work in primates. “One of its great strengths is its inclusion of multiple species.”

Why kangaroos favor their left paw instead of their right is a mystery. Malashichev suspects the bias may have arisen somewhat randomly during the course of evolution; elements in the brain that could have developed either way happened to take a left turn. Marsupial brains are known to be quite different from ours—for one, they lack a corpus collusum, the thick tract of fibers that connects the left hemisphere to the right in the human brain. But further work would be needed to connect specific elements of brain anatomy to handedness.

Other animals have equally mysterious asymmetries. Baby chickens tend to use their right eye to spot food, and baby whales prefer to follow their mothers on the right. Wrap a balloon around a cane toad’s head, and the hapless amphibian will usually try to swipe it away with its right foot. Watch an Australian parrot carefully, and you’ll notice that it grasps for food with its left claw more often than not.

Tecumseh Fitch, a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna, hopes that the kangaroo study will inspire scientists to take a look at other non-primate animals, including Tasmanian devils, koala bears and the hundreds of other known marsupials. “This whole handedness debate has been so strongly focused on primates that we don’t know a lot about other creatures,” he says. “We can learn a lot by looking at these understudied groups.”

This article was originially published in the Smithsonian Magazine June 18th, 2015

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They wrote, “With a multitude of hands-on exhibits, you can truly immerse yourself in aquatic ecosystems from all over the world. At the Austin Aquarium, you can hand-feed sharks, stingrays, crocodiles, birds, and other tropical animals as you gain firsthand knowledge about the animals’ habits and behaviors. The aquarium has approximately 8,000 different animals in more than 35 different exhibits, many of which are interactive. A visit to this extensive aquarium is fun for kids as well as parents.”

Austin Aquarium has a unique value proposition with their ability for visitors to get to know and understand the animals.  Opportunities to interact with and feed the animals are everywhere.  All ages can enjoy learning more about the animals through engagement.

Click here to read the full article on BLT.

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April 26, 2015

For my son’s 8th birthday, we purchased a “Sleeping with the Sharks” package. Cody was our tour guide/hero.

EDUCATIONAL and KID-CENTERED: Cody’s expertise, incredible patience, and genuine love of marine animals and kids made the experience amazing for all of us. Cody took us thoughtfully through each hands-on experience, providing just the right amount of guidance and structure as the children interacted with all the animals.

WELL-PLANNED: It seems that from the layout to the amenities to the height of the exhibits, everything is planned with the total experience in mind. Every staff member and volunteer is there because they want to educate the public about marine life, teach children appropriate ways to interact with animals and instill a sense of stewardship in others.

AWESOME EXHIBITS and INTERACTIONS: The children got to feed the octopus, touch the snake, feed the stingrays, fish and birds. And Cody was there every step of the way, ensuring the safety of both animals and kids.

CODY: Cody needs his own section here, because he is extraordinary. He has spent his young life educating himself in marine life, including working at other aquariums and personal studies. Plus, his respect for children is inspiring. He listens and takes the time to address each question. He also went way above and beyond, offering his help with whatever needs we had. Someone needs to give that guy a scholarship for marine biology or education or both. He is phenomenal.

Overall, I usually don’t love zoos and aquariums, because it seems that they are using the animals to make money. I was very skeptical, given this aquarium was in a shopping plaza. I thought there is no way this won’t be depressing. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is obvious to me that the intent behind this operation is based in a true love and passion for wildlife. It’s clear that what is being created here is a place where kids can build lifelong connections to marine life. And if there is ever a time we have needed THAT, it’s now.

If I could give more stars, I surely would.

THANKS Austin Aquarium and Cody for an unforgettable experience.

Janis Bookout

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Research has been done comparing control groups to those exposed to aquaria. Benefits have included reports of decreased stress, increase in relaxation, reduced anxiety, decreased aggressive behaviors and improved eating behaviors and nutrition. The benefits were seen in the elderly, dental patients and Alzheimer patients, among others.

Aquarium owners have long claimed a feeling of serenity through the watching of various fish. An aquarium in Connecticut has been noted as having a program to help children with learning and developmental disabilities claiming it helps the kids to develop their social skills through the use of “touch and learn” exhibits in the aquarium.

To learn more, check out this Wikipedia article.

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