Georgia Aquarium walkthrough and my thoughts

[@nozr1383]

I used to have a thing against zoos and aquariums. Now most of them really do a lot for conservation. The wife of a friend of mine works at this aquarium.

[@jeb5137]

I think a lot of people who are against ALL zoos miss the forest for the trees. (Speaking only about ethical zoos and aquariums) yes, maybe the individual animals might not be living their best lives, but what zoos and aquariums do for the overall species makes a big difference. I like to use Steve Irwin as an example. PETA attacked him for harassing animals. And sure, going out of his way to showcase animals may have temporarily stressed that individual, however the respect and admiration for animals (many of which are typically viewed negatively, such as reptiles) that he passed onto the masses have been an huge net positive for many species. Should zoos and aquariums still strive to do better for their animals? Absolutely! And I think most of the good ones are.

[@nozr1383]

@@jeb5137 yeah. Over the years I have changed my mind on them. I still don't go to zoos, but I go to aquariums.

[@ARB826]

I was just at this aquarium and it was really sad to me. It felt like the epitome of corporate America and exploitation

[@HorrorOpossum]

I'm similar to you

[@thewalrusclown]

Yeah, it al depends on weather it's a road side hell hole, or a properly certified AZA facility.

[@js-my3iu]

I can confirm both the dolphins and belugas have secondary tanks that you can’t see from the main viewing areas. I don’t like like the dolphin tank either, it feels so barren and small for how big those dolphins are. The belugas I have seen playing with various toys they have in their tank on many occasions and they all definitely have unique personalities. The shark exhibit is my favorite exhibit in the aquarium. I’m lucky enough to live in Atlanta so I go regularly. Next time I go I’m going to ask an aquarium worker about the sturgeon and let them know they don’t have enough room!

[@goldgamercommenting2990]

The whale sharks don’t have that problem… they seem like they enjoy it, their tank is big enough. I can’t say the same for our good old friend that popped eye grouper at 1:08

[@kropotkinnie]

It's always funny to me that a lot of people are anti aquarium or zoo when almost everyone in or going into any form of zoology (including myself) supports them because we know they tend to do extreme good in terms of rehab, breeding, and even just educating people on the animals that live with us. Aside from serving the great purpose of rescuing species, so many of these places passively use their animals as ambassadors and get people inspired and interested in actually helping out or pursuing zoology. Going to the SD Zoo and the Safari Park in California all my life was the main inspiration for me going into animal behaviorism focused zoology, and Seaworld was a massive influence on my love for sharks and interest in preserving oceans. The majority of these places do far more good than harm but unfortunately a lot of common coverage dramatizes everything and tries to pander towards the ideas that they all have these dark secrets and actually treat their animals poorly. As an animal rights activist myself it kind of infuriates me when people usually far less interested in animal welfare decide to jump on the zoo hate bandwagon. There are so many ways to show you actually care about animals and they somehow tend to pick the absolute most backwards and incorrect one. I see a lot of comments like that on your channel too, with people who barely know anything about fishkeeping complaining about what you're doing here when literally all your videos are fine and happen to present very relaxed and clearly confident, healthy animals. Just annoying because there are so many actual animal activism causes they could get on but probably don't want to think about, but if they see a bandwagon that allows them to feign care for some animals in, say, a fishkeeping video or an aquarium, boy will they hop on it to feel like they're actually very enlightened about animal welfare. TL;DR basically anyone with education on these matters will tell you zoos and aquariums are a huge net positive and even quite nice for their animals in modern times. If you want to get mad over animal welfare or show others how much you actually care, target something like factory farming rather than an industry that is largely beneficial to animals. This is a super gorgeous aquarium, btw. Reminds me of a few down here. Recently went to Monterey Bay Aquarium and was mind blown by some of the exhibits and the biodiversity. Edit: roadside zoos suck tho. not all of them, but the vast majority. never ever go to a roadside zoo that isn't expressly labeled as a sanctuary/rehab program. lots of great little rehabs, but anything claiming to be a zoo that is just a roadside attraction is just gonna be some rich dude's animal torture hellscape. Also love and agree with your commentary here on what needs improvement and what is good!

[@StudleyDuderight]

The zoo haters also hate on hunters and people who eat meat. Ignorance is their vigil and stupidity is their watchword.

[@urbanexoticuk]

Two of the Belugas where rescues the other two are males on loan to breed from new york aquarium

[@matthew_thefallen]

Thank you for making this tour for us! It's good to hear an opinion about keeping fish in certain ways so thank you, it was very useful!

[@Sunny10291029]

Love the commentary! I’ve always wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium, thanks for giving us a tour!

[@wallyandjilly375]

I didn’t even know this was a Cow Turtle video?! Dude, your videos are spectacular and so knowledgeable

[@PokDarasu]

It just makes me happy to see creatures in a habitat living, its so beautiful to see each animal of different species and varieties live their own lives

[@jackam7023]

The electric eels certainly do have a lot of _potential_ haha! Seriously cool animals and a great video! Thank you!

[@urbanexoticuk]

The saw shark,guitar fish and manta ray where also rescues😊

[@rebeccahorne8090]

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the sturgeon in the vertical area of that habitat- it actually is connected to the whole “river” that runs in that exhibit, it makes a circle so they don’t have to stay in the thin vertical part. Same for the belugas and dolphins, the belugas have one other pool you can’t see and the dolphins have 4 other habitats you can’t see, including a pool that is 30ft deep and 110ft across. As for the sea otters, they are all rescues, but that one is not paralyzed they just slide their back legs instead of walking sometimes. And finally all but a few of the motoro rays are rescues as well, they were confiscated at the Atlanta airport being trafficked into the US from South America.

[@Yugdax]

Wow those whale sharks are mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing.

[@boognish.]

That bait ball exhibit is amazing!

[@urbanexoticuk]

I did the behind the scenes tour when i was there from the uk they did have 4 but one had to be put down also theres more to the story so they where go to food market but because they where kept captive for so long they couldn't live back in the wild

[@Mrcookieonyt]

Went to this aquarium about a month ago while i was in Georgia for job training. Super cool experience

[@KaitenKenbu]

Went here back in 2019 during a work training trip. It's so cool in person. The whole facility is amazing.

[@cooliipie]

Absolutely incredible place!

[@chrislester9465]

Thank you for this amazing video

[@brettsoutdoorexperience9422]

I have been there many times. Great place!

[@macko4042]

This is a pretty amazing video, and I appreciate your commentary.. well done! Keep it up

[@leopeters1881]

Love you videos!

[@jamescanjuggle]

thanks for showing me creatures id never get to see otherwise

[@MorphedWombat]

6.3 million gallons of water wow

[@yrpsa]

Very nice.

[@aprilmeowmeow]

i kept saying "woooowww", lol

[@LeafyMouse4478]

I live in Cumming not to far from the aquarium and I love it. So lucky I am only 30 minutes away from the aquarium

[@chanman0024]

Fun fact: the Georgia aquarium is the only North American aquarium to house silver tip sharks in the shark exhibit

[@aTypicalMushroom]

Come down to Monterey bay aquarium in CA.

[@50finders21]

sealife at the mall of america has an awesome sawfish tank if you want to get a look at them

[@agrimmsounds]

You obviously have expertise on these creatures, perhaps you could contact the aquarium about the sturgeon tanks? It’s sad to see creatures confined like that

[@new-dystopia]

I've made a point to visit aquariums all over the country and I seem to recall this one having vending machines in strange places.

[@FORRESTtheunoriginal]

Do stingrays like getting touched? The big one seemed to swim up close to get petted. Real cute.

[@CowTurtle]

They don’t seem to mind once they’re accustomed to hands touching them. My old pet rays I could basically get under and pick them up in the tank.

[@FORRESTtheunoriginal]

@@CowTurtle Yeah but theres like a big leap from "not minding" to "actively seeking". Do all animals just like getting petted, this needs to be researched. Like back in the day there was that guy who went around and tried to eat every animal, we need a guy to go and pet every animal.

[@CowTurtle]

@@FORRESTtheunoriginal haha anything besides mammals I would say tolerate it at best.

[@fafnir8714]

@@CowTurtle Not actually true, one of the main reasons Stingrays are such a popular choice in touch tanks is that they consistently seem to thrive under the attention and seek it out. My assumption is that its got something to do with grooming behaviors. There aren't many animals in general who don't have some sort of tactile instinct to scrape against something to dislodge potential parasites and clear away dead skin, scales, fur, feathers, or whatever else. Stingrays are also surprisingly social, so presumably the tactile stimuli of rubbing against each other is one they might be comforted by due to safety in numbers? Who knows. Point is, a lot of rays do actually seek out and enjoy the petting for whatever reason.

[@new-dystopia]

@@CowTurtle Not a bird guy I assume.

[@robrice7246]

1:20 I know they used to keep Great Hammerheads back or around when it first opened.

[@urbanexoticuk]

They still do they got them in the new shark exhibit

[@urbanexoticuk]

From what i got told that dolphin tank is only the display tank they have a bigger one of display

[@FisherBRD]

You gotta visit and review the Monterey Bay Aquarium! No giant whale sharks though haha

[@urbanexoticuk]

I thought they would of rehomed them sturgeon i told them when i was there it wont suitable i know they told me the sturgeons where rescues the one with the broken back was already broken when they got it

[@CowTurtle]

Interesting thanks for sharing!

[@urbanexoticuk]

Honestly if there still doing it its 15 dollars well was when i went but that was like 5 years ago the behind the scenes tour well worth doing

[@FISHguyDAD556]

I have a pic of an all white one of those sharks from the Georgia aquarium

[@McKeelix]

Everyone always focuses on the whale sharks when talking about the Ocean Voyager tank; whale sharks are amazing and it’s a huge feat of husbandry and technology that they can be comfortably housed in a closed system, but I wish folks would give some love to those manta rays. It’s just as impressive and rare to see them in captivity. They’ve got the largest brain to body ratio of any fish and might even be capable of passing the mirror test! They’re a big deal!!

[@urbanexoticuk]

I didnt know u kept tarantula and reptiles too i was just scrolling through and saw you on the news

[@LolaliciousSmiley]

I left a question on the other video regarding wild caught animals. I very much appreciate your thoughts here.

[@cannabass5729]

Have you ever been to the New England aquarium if so your thoughts

[@smoothchairs1536]

Heyo I live in Australia and I just got a tank about one arm length long any suggestions for marine animals? (I'm not a fan of fish), also I love the videos nice work!

[@CowTurtle]

Lots of interesting crabs and shrimp around! I love doing mixed invert tanks with things like serpent stars, cleaner shrimp and decorator crabs.

[@turkeydinnerchewie2499]

Were this herring in the shark tank? If so, what species?

[@gliscornumber151]

When I visited about a month ago one of their hammerhead sharks was swimming in circles in a weired way, did you see one like that this time? Just want to know if he got better

[@CowTurtle]

Hmm all the hammerheads I saw looked great.

[@gliscornumber151]

@@CowTurtle I guess he got better then, thanks for telling me

[@js-my3iu]

The hammerheads do swim kind of on their side. I thought it was a sign of them not having enough space or something but I talked to an aquarium worker and they confirmed that it’s a normal behavior in the wild as well! I’m not sure if this is the kind of behavior you’re talking about.

[@vincentx2850]

While whale sharks are rather simple creatures, their tank mate, the manta rays, are quite intelligent.

[@SnapeKillsDumbledore2k10]

Come to Dallas world aquarium next and stop by Your Pet Fish in Carrollton they’ve got tons of dope polypterus species all the time.

[@SnapeKillsDumbledore2k10]

I’m going tomorrow to look at a pair of WC Nigerian Lapradei that are 27” they look melanistic on black sand

[@jemkiller25wiggsplitter52]

The fish that's being picked off in your eel pit I think they need plants the hiding from predators that might be the reason why they get picked off easily 👌👍

[@awesomearchivist1705]

For people who are against zoos and aquariums, two things: 1. Its either this or Chinese medicine extinction take your pick. 2. Zoos and aquariums have come along way from the 80s and 90s hell if it wasn't for zoos pandas would definitely be extinct along with a variety of reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians and other animals not cute enough to get the publics mercy. The aquarium hobby alone has saved fish from going extinct, for example white cloud mountain minnows are extinct in thier natural habitat the Yangtze River due to pollution. But right now you can go to a petco and get 12 for 12 dollars because they are so common in the trade. Other examples include the Australian lung fish which you can only buy via a breeding program and central American goodeids which are endangered but doing well amongst breeders in the hobby. So in my opinion zoos, aquariums and pet hobbyists have more pros than cons although we do need to work on not over collecting species from the wild and breed more in captivity to then release into the wild.

[@user-fi9qo8lq3v]

You should really set up underwater cameras and Livestream the eel pit

[@aperson336]

That fw sting ray is nothing, just look up Mekong giant stingrays

[@clemdelaclem]

Am sad for the sturgeon and belugas/dolphins. Almost all of the other fish you've shown where kept well but I just don't think you shoud keep cetaceans in captivity, no matter what.

[@smellyvalley]

Whale shark in a tank is pretty f’d up

[@nytstalker1380]

I thought i read somewhere the whale sharks had died?

[@VienQuitonm]

Florida Aquarium in Tampa will blow this out of the water.

[@swim2kill]

If the whale shark was meant for food it certainly makes me think twice about being judgemental over it being ethical or not

[@devindonovan8201]

Nothing too spectacular? Um SIR

[@pomidor773]

Keeping the belugas and dolphins is messed up

[@ScottParisi]

Great place to visit. Wish you would always hold your phone sideways for video recording.

[@CowTurtle]

I definitely want to focus more on KZbin now but the main things I post are for TikTok and instagram.

[@the_death_phantom5332]

They weren't feeding the whale shark, it was just trying to catch the bubbles coming from the diver.

[@CowTurtle]

She’s holding a bottle of food she occasionally sprays into its mouth.

[@cococamo191]

I don't like touch tank. I think they should be abolished.