Extra Credit: Birch Aquarium Family Day

 



Recently I had the great opportunity to attend the San Diego Birch Aquarium's family day. This was a great event to attend with family members in order to expose young kids in marine science and the ocean's ecosystem. If the children are too young to go out and snorkel, visiting aquariums are a great way to engage kids with the ocean. Each exhibit that inhabited creatures was designed to resemble their native habitats. The Birch Aquarium exhibit designers did a great job resembling the creature's native habitats.

 

The event consisted of self-guided tours around the aquarium and small interactive events in their tide pool area. When walking around the kids have the ability to look at the creatures in several different exhibits. It was obvious to see how the children reacted towards the colorful animals versus the dark ones. They are attracted by colorful bright tropical fish.  

The bright exhibits resembled tropical climates and the darker were usually connected to Mediterranean climates or open sea. It is very important to keep the exhibits as closely to the organism’s natural habitat. This will let the organism feel in a comfortable location and would react the same way it would in the wild. This includes having the right temperature, terrain, and salinity level. Some of the creatures are born in the aquarium but there are also some that were placed in certain exhibits for recovery.

At the Birch Aquarium there is a sea turtle that will no longer be able to survive in the wild. It was attacked by a shark and is missing a back flipper and the other back flipper is severely damaged. For this reason, the sea turtle floats in an improper way but can still survive at this aquarium since they are fed.

In class we have learned about nanotechnology, at the birch aquarium there was an exhibit that talked all about nanotechnology and how it is being used to clean salt water. The idea was to use cleaning nanoparticles to remove the salt and turn it in to freshwater.

This aquarium is not nationally known, however, it is definitely a place to come and enjoy  a fun day with the family. I am glad I was able to bring mine because I feel it was a great way to show my family how beautiful the ocean is and the research I get to work with.