invincible569
New member
mebarryb said:
Thats one thing I hated as movie's/media would make any animal seem as if its evil. Heck, arent humans evil?
We have a Great White
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Thats one thing I hated as movie's/media would make any animal seem as if its evil. Heck, arent humans evil?
Heck, even the ever popular Flipper is evil if you get right down to it. There was some research in the past that showed sub adult dolphins routinely traveled in groups (pods??) and would harrass and even kill other baby dolphins for no appearent reason. They were likened to marauding gangs that would strike for the thrill of it.
Back to the topic of sharks.... we had a somewhat large grouper (a couple hundred pounds) in our shark lagoon and he was inadvertantly injured during one of the feeds. Really only a minor scratch with just the faintest hint of blood showing. A few of our black tips did seem to show a little interest with one kinda shadowing him from above for a brief period. This went on for several hours before, without any warning whatsoever, the sandtiger rocketed up from below and literaly cut the grouper in half. This immediately triggered the black tips who pounced on what was left in what I heard described (this occurred right in front of the public) as an unbelievably violent and fast attack. The whole ordeal was over in less than a minute and everyone was litterally so stunned at how fast it had occured that they were speechless.
And all of this was with several feeds a day, the last one only a few hours prior.
I learned 2 things from this: Wild animals are totally unpredicable and I highly doubt anyone can say with any real certainly what they will or will not do given a specific situation. And 2, Sharks are blinding fast and if it wasn't for our advance intellect we'd be pretty far down on the evolutionary food chain.
Brett
Back to the topic of sharks.... we had a somewhat large grouper (a couple hundred pounds) in our shark lagoon and he was inadvertantly injured during one of the feeds. Really only a minor scratch with just the faintest hint of blood showing. A few of our black tips did seem to show a little interest with one kinda shadowing him from above for a brief period. This went on for several hours before, without any warning whatsoever, the sandtiger rocketed up from below and literaly cut the grouper in half. This immediately triggered the black tips who pounced on what was left in what I heard described (this occurred right in front of the public) as an unbelievably violent and fast attack. The whole ordeal was over in less than a minute and everyone was litterally so stunned at how fast it had occured that they were speechless.
And all of this was with several feeds a day, the last one only a few hours prior.
I learned 2 things from this: Wild animals are totally unpredicable and I highly doubt anyone can say with any real certainly what they will or will not do given a specific situation. And 2, Sharks are blinding fast and if it wasn't for our advance intellect we'd be pretty far down on the evolutionary food chain.
Brett
invincible569 I have talked to a few guests and they all have asked why she wasnt/isnt swimming at the top of the water with her dorsal fin out. I do all I can not to laugh or smirk. But it does show how movies/media portray sharks as you pointed out. For every human that is killed by sharks, there are millions of sharks that are killed every year. Is that justified, no, but we shold be looking at the opposite side of the coin as well.
Putawaywet
Putawaywet
That is not good. Sharks main jobs are to take care of the sick and injured fish. Do any animlas in the ocean want inferior genes being passed on? No, it is bad for the species as a whole. I know we try to pull off the "perdation doesnt ever happen at the aquarium" vibe, but it does, and I tell guests that predation happens becuase that is life in the ocean, just like our tanks. But keeping that from happening too often and out of the public view is the trick. Especially when it involves blood. Seems less harmful when the fish is gulped down and no blood trail.
thaoctopus
New member
That is SO cool. I'm gonna plan a trip to take my girl over there. I open this thread everyday for new updates!!
I think I had posted that we were trying to get an accurate length and weight on the GWS by using lazers. When we sent divers in (which we have done quite a few times now with no aparent stress added to the GWS, she seems to not care they are there one way or another) they were too far away, and the lazers didnt go through the water as red light is the first light to be absorbed. SO that was a good idea, but didnt really work out.
This part is all personal observations and is no way scientific. I was talking with a fellow aquarium employee that was was taking home movies of the white shark, and asked if he thought she had grown. We both agreed that she had and thought of a way to show it. We took his camcorder and took a still portrait of her from about 10 feet away with the plaques at the botom of the exhibit in the same frame. If you have never seen the exhibit, we have plaques that are at the foot of the acrylic that have info about the animals, pics, weight, length, diet, that kind of stuff. Well we waited until she was close to the glass and close to the plaques, then took a picture that was perpendicular to us. We measured the length of the plaques to be 15.5", and she filled up about 4 of them. It is kinda hard to tell becuase of her length, you are not going to get perfect angles for the front half of her or the back half of her, but this is the best we can do for now. I am going to have him put the pic on photoshop, do some cutting and pasteing so we can line her up with the plaques perfectly and get a better estimate. For all those that havent done the math, it would be 5 feet, 2 inches. Of couse she wasnt right up against the acrylic, at her closest point she swims about 4 inches away, that being her fluke moving her along. Her being that close really doesnt distort her size as it is not the acrylic that alters the size, it is the water.
This part is all personal observations and is no way scientific. I was talking with a fellow aquarium employee that was was taking home movies of the white shark, and asked if he thought she had grown. We both agreed that she had and thought of a way to show it. We took his camcorder and took a still portrait of her from about 10 feet away with the plaques at the botom of the exhibit in the same frame. If you have never seen the exhibit, we have plaques that are at the foot of the acrylic that have info about the animals, pics, weight, length, diet, that kind of stuff. Well we waited until she was close to the glass and close to the plaques, then took a picture that was perpendicular to us. We measured the length of the plaques to be 15.5", and she filled up about 4 of them. It is kinda hard to tell becuase of her length, you are not going to get perfect angles for the front half of her or the back half of her, but this is the best we can do for now. I am going to have him put the pic on photoshop, do some cutting and pasteing so we can line her up with the plaques perfectly and get a better estimate. For all those that havent done the math, it would be 5 feet, 2 inches. Of couse she wasnt right up against the acrylic, at her closest point she swims about 4 inches away, that being her fluke moving her along. Her being that close really doesnt distort her size as it is not the acrylic that alters the size, it is the water.
Today is day 61, and there really isnt much new. Our GWS had a fairly beat up nose when we got her, and probably from the ocean net as well. At any rate, the scaring on her nose has healed quite nicely. She has a very small ammount of white on her nose now and she is not as easy to see when swimming in the back of the exhibit. We have run into a small problem when feeding. The other animals in the exhibit are more interested in the salmon now instead of the squid that we usually feed. So feeding her has taken a new approch. The Dolphinfish (Mahi-Mahi, Dorado) have become a pest when feeding her. So the aquarists are throwing small ammounts of food into the tank to get them away while the aquarists feed the GWS. Her overall appearance looks great and most of the scaring on her body (from gill net) has disappeared. I will try to get some new pics up as has packed on a lot of weight.
She doesn't look 4 feet long. I can almost see her being 15 feet.
And I just moved from Palm Springs to Oregon. You know what that means. Road Trip.
Very beautiful. I hope this exhibit brings awareness to the white shark and so we can learn more about them. Really applaud you policy that if she starts not to do well that you will release her, that is miles ahead of what they did before. all i can say is awesome
And I just moved from Palm Springs to Oregon. You know what that means. Road Trip.
Very beautiful. I hope this exhibit brings awareness to the white shark and so we can learn more about them. Really applaud you policy that if she starts not to do well that you will release her, that is miles ahead of what they did before. all i can say is awesome
mikeo1210 I agree with you in that Mahi does taste good. GWS tend to eat their pray in one or two big chomps. All the fish in there are too big for that as of right now. She would have to be about 10-12 feet or so to get her whole jaws around the smallest fish in there, the Pacific Bonito. I am not sure if they are going to allow her to get that big as we will have problems taking her out if/when she gets that big. Plus, at some point she will switch from fish to marine mammals, and no one knows when that will be.
imholte She does look longer than 4 feet, personally I think she is closer to 5 feet or so, just by going off her length compared to the length of the tuna, and the plaques at the bottom of the exhibit. Any time you want to come down, let me know. I am always willing to meet fellow reefers.
Bringing awareness is the main point of this project. To show that she is not in there eating everthing in sight. We have had 10 seperate dives in that exhibit with her in there, and not on one occasion did she show any interest in the divers. Of all the sharks in the ocean, the GWS is the most likely to become extinct during our lifetimes. It is more laikey than the Dusky shark in Florida. Since that is ture, we want this one reproducing in the wild. For her to spend her finals days in our exhibit would be a waste.
There are no restrictions on getting GWS as of yet. They are not a threatened species as of now. People are still buying their teeth and jaws. A set of jaws like hers would command a price of about $10,000. The larger ones up to $40,000. This is the main reason that GWS are disappearing. How does an apex preditor dissapear in large numbers? Humans. (Sorry for the tangent). There is nothing stopping any other aquarium from getting a GWS. All they have to have is the time (we spent three years), the money (I think the initial grant was a million), exhibit large enough to house the animal (one that has no corners, we think this is a big reason of success as well), a transport to get it to the aquarium, an ocean pen, employees to do the work, have aGWS that is in good health when cought, getting it to eat while in the pen, and dedication. I am sure that the dedication is not a problem, but the other factors may be lacking for most places. Now that I have told the secrets, I dont want to see anyone putting a GWS in thieir pools at home
When our GWS goes back, we hope that some other institution can go a little bit farther than we have/did. That is how we learn from animals that we dont know anything about. I am sure if someone from a different aquarium called us up, we would hand over our notes so they could do the same thing. It its not about haveing the only one in the world, we were just the first to get to this point.
imholte She does look longer than 4 feet, personally I think she is closer to 5 feet or so, just by going off her length compared to the length of the tuna, and the plaques at the bottom of the exhibit. Any time you want to come down, let me know. I am always willing to meet fellow reefers.
Bringing awareness is the main point of this project. To show that she is not in there eating everthing in sight. We have had 10 seperate dives in that exhibit with her in there, and not on one occasion did she show any interest in the divers. Of all the sharks in the ocean, the GWS is the most likely to become extinct during our lifetimes. It is more laikey than the Dusky shark in Florida. Since that is ture, we want this one reproducing in the wild. For her to spend her finals days in our exhibit would be a waste.
There are no restrictions on getting GWS as of yet. They are not a threatened species as of now. People are still buying their teeth and jaws. A set of jaws like hers would command a price of about $10,000. The larger ones up to $40,000. This is the main reason that GWS are disappearing. How does an apex preditor dissapear in large numbers? Humans. (Sorry for the tangent). There is nothing stopping any other aquarium from getting a GWS. All they have to have is the time (we spent three years), the money (I think the initial grant was a million), exhibit large enough to house the animal (one that has no corners, we think this is a big reason of success as well), a transport to get it to the aquarium, an ocean pen, employees to do the work, have aGWS that is in good health when cought, getting it to eat while in the pen, and dedication. I am sure that the dedication is not a problem, but the other factors may be lacking for most places. Now that I have told the secrets, I dont want to see anyone putting a GWS in thieir pools at home
When our GWS goes back, we hope that some other institution can go a little bit farther than we have/did. That is how we learn from animals that we dont know anything about. I am sure if someone from a different aquarium called us up, we would hand over our notes so they could do the same thing. It its not about haveing the only one in the world, we were just the first to get to this point.
While I haven't responded to this thread before I have been reading it since the begining with much interest. I must also say it is amazing what you guys have acomplished so far. Anyway, this thread discusses the incident at the Long Beach aquarium. I would like to here though was has happened to them (the kids) since they were caught...
-Dino-
-Dino-
odoprelude
New member
what happened?
odoprelude
New member
OMG! those b@st@rds....
Yesterday was day 75 and everything is going well. We have noticed a little rubbing on her fluke. It is more than likely from when she is swimming close to the acrylic, her body doest rub, but the movement of her tail back and forth is getting the acrylic a little bit. The rubbing is not life threatining, adn we expcet this wound to heal well. We have started doing programs about how she came to the aquarium in the auditorium. We are showing video of her in the net pen, transfering her to the tank, feeding, all kinds of stuff. There is not much new to me, but more than there is on the website. The book store has gotten in a book(16 pages is actually a pamflet) abot how she was obtained and the steps we took. The cost is $10. It pretty much says what has been said here, but it is good for those that dont have access to the aquarium or this thread.
