Georgia Aquarium Informations

Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Georgia Aquarium is home to hundreds of exhibits and tens of thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in 10 million US gallons (38,000 m3) of marine and salt water. It was the largest aquarium in the world from its opening in 2005 until 2012, when it was surpassed by Marine Life Park in Singapore.

A $250 million donation from the foundation of local businessman and Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus provided the bulk of the funding needed to build and stock the new facility.

The Aquarium's notable specimens include whale sharks, beluga whales, California sea lions, bottlenose dolphins, and manta rays.

In November 2001, Bernard Marcus announced his vision of presenting Atlanta with an aquarium that would encourage both education and economic growth. After visiting 56 aquariums in 13 countries with his wife, Billi Marcus, he donated $250 million toward what was to become Georgia Aquarium. Corporate contributions totaling an additional $40 million allowed the aquarium to open debt-free.

Jeff Swanagan, the Aquarium's founding president and executive director until 2008, is largely credited with the creation of the aquarium, from the design of the structure to the procurement of animals for the exhibits.

The aquarium is in downtown Atlanta on land donated by The Coca-Cola Company, just north of Centennial Olympic Park. Its blue metal-and-glass exterior is meant to evoke a giant ark breaking through a wave.The world's largest when it opened in November 2005, the aquarium encompassed 550,000 square feet (5.1 ha; 13 acres) of covered space and its exhibits held 8,000,000 US gallons (30,000,000 l) of fresh and salt water. Subsequent additions to the collection and redesign of some habitats have increased the total water held to 10,000,000 US gallons (38,000,000 l).

After 27 months of construction, the aquarium opened with 60 animal habitats.Though the non-profit aquarium's admission charges are among the highest in the United States, attendance has far exceeded expectations, with 1 million visitors in the first 100 days, 3 million by August 2006, 5 million by May 2007, and 10 million by June 2009. The aquarium is part of the Smithsonian Affiliations program. and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Georgia Aquarium is home to hundreds of species and tens of thousands of animals.

The aquarium was designed around a 6.3 million US gallon (24,000 m3) whale shark exhibit, making it the only institution outside of Asia that houses the giant species.

The zoo animals’ importation from Taiwan (by air, truck and boat) had never been attempted previously. They were taken from Taiwan's annual fishing kill quota, under which they would have been eaten had they not been purchased by the aquarium. The aquarium's most famous specimens were four youngsters named Ralph, Norton, Alice, and Trixie, after the primary characters from The Honeymooners. Ralph and Norton died in 2007, but that same year the aquarium received two replacements ("Taroko", commemorating Taroko Gorge National Park, and "Yushan" after Taiwan's Jade Mountain) just before a ban on capture of that species took effect.

The aquarium is one of only four sites in the world displaying a manta ray. Nandi, its first, and the first manta ray on display in the country, was accidentally caught in nets protecting the South African coast from sharks. She joined the Ocean Voyager exhibit in 2008. A second, Tallulah, was added in September 2009,joined in 2010 by female named Billi,and in 2012 by a male. The animals range in size from 10–13 ft wingspans (3 - 4 meters).

The aquarium has been home to as many as five 11-foot (3 m) beluga whales at once. Its captive breeding program has not proven successful.

Males Nico and Gasper, acquired from an amusement park in Mexico, were joined by three females on breeding loan from the New York Aquarium: Marina, Natasha and Natasha's daughter, Maris. After Gasper and Marina died in 2007, the belugas were transferred to SeaWorld San Antonio, where Nico died in 2009. In 2010, Maris and a new male, Beethoven, were returned to the Georgia Aquarium while Natasha remains with a potential mate in San Antonio. Two young belugas, Grayson (male) and Qinu (female), also from San Antonio, were added in November 2010. Before transferring to the Shedd Aquarium in 2014, Beethoven fathered calves with Maris in 2012 and 2015, neither of which survived. Maris died of a heart defect in 2015. In 2016, Grayson was sent to Shedd Aquarium while SeaWorld Orlando's Aurek and Maple and Shedd Aquarium's Nunavik arrived on loan at Georgia Aquarium. In June 2017, Georgia Aquarium announced that Qinu was pregnant with her first calf, sired by Aurek, and was due in the fall of 2017. In September 2017, Aurek was transferred to Shedd Aquarium on a breeding loan. On November 8, 2017, the aquarium announced that Qinu's calf had died from complications during birth.

In 2012, the beluga whale Maris gave birth to a female calf. After less than a week, the calf, who was born underweight, died. Although mortality rates of calves born to first time mothers is extremely high, even in wild populations, Maris's second calf—born on Mother's Day in 2015—would survive less than a month. Maris died in October of the same year, reigniting the debate as to whether the captive beluga breeding program was humane or successful.

In 2015, the aquarium applied to import 18 belugas from Russia; it had previously placed an order for their capture and planned to send them on breeding loans to partnered parks such as Shedd Aquarium and SeaWorld, though SeaWorld ultimately opted out of the agreement. However, the permit was denied by the National Marine Fisheries Service, prompting Georgia Aquarium to sue. In September 2015, a federal district court ruled that "Georgia Aquarium failed to demonstrate that its permit would not result in the taking of additional animalsbeyond those authorized by the permit", and that the denial would stand.

The aquarium's animals are displayed in seven galleries and exhibits: Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, River Scout, Dolphin Coast, Pier 225, and Aquanaut Adventure: A Discovery Zone. Each corresponds to a specific environment.

The first exhibit, Southern Company River Scout, reflects regional environments. It features an overhead river where visitors can see North American fish from the bottom up. In addition to local specimens, this exhibit displays piranha, electric eel, and other unusual freshwater life.

The second section of the aquarium, Cold Water Quest, features animals from the polar and temperate regions of the world and contains most of the mammal species in the aquarium's collection. This exhibit includes beluga whales in a 760,000 US gallons (2,900,000 L) tank, sea otter, Japanese spider crab, weedy sea dragon, and African penguin.

The largest exhibit, Ocean Voyager built by Home Depot,[clarification needed] contains 6.3-million-U.S.-gallon (24,000,000 l) of water and several thousand fish. It measures 284 ft × 126 ft (87 m × 38 m) and the depth ranges between 20 and 30 ft (6.1 and 9.1 m), making it the largest indoor aquatic habitat in the world. This exhibit is designed to feature the life of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and showcases the aquarium's whale sharks, as well as a 100 ft (30 m) underwater acrylic tunnel and one of the world's largest viewing windows.

The fourth exhibit, Tropical Diver, features mainly Indo-Pacific tropical fish. The largest habitat in the exhibit is a 164,000-US-gallon (620,000 L) artificial reef featuring many species of fish. The aquarium also cultivates its own coral, some of which can be seen in the exhibit. Other animals include seahorses, garden eel, jellyfish, clownfish, bluespotted ribbontail ray, shrimp, lobsters, and red lionfish.

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