Vancouver Aquarium

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Vancouver Aquarium


Date opened	June 15, 1956 ^[1]
Location	Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN
Land area	2.1 acres (9,000 m²) ^[1]
Accreditations/ Memberships	AZA, CAZA, AMMPA
Website
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The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre is a public aquarium located in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition to being one of the largest and most important aquariums, it is a well respected centre for marine research, conservation and marine animal rehabilitation. It is a major tourist attraction for Vancouver and is often referred to as VA or Vanaqua by visitors.

The aquarium is run by a self-supporting not-for-profit association. The operation of the aquarium receives no government funding. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver and managed by the City Parks Board.

1 Aquarium history
2 Aquarium facility
3 Animals at the Aquarium
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Aquarium history

Orca statue in front of the aquarium, designed by Bill Reid.

The Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was formed in 1950. Officially Canada's first public Aquarium, it opened on June 15, 1956.

The Vancouver Aquarium has become the largest in Canada and one of the five largest in North America. The Aquarium is internationally recognized for display and interpretation excellence, and was the first facility to incorporate professional naturalists into the galleries to interpret animal behaviours. Aquarium research projects extend world-wide, and are internationally recognized for marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation.

The Aquarium has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured marine mammals for more than forty years. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has treated more than 2,000 seals, sea lions, elephant seals, otters, dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The program also helped rescue Springer, an orphaned killer whale successfully released and reunited with her family pod. Among other high profile rescues include the successful returning of a beached gray whale back to the water in 2005 and the rescue of Schoona, a lost green sea turtle near Prince Rupert, BC.

Beluga and calf at the Vancouver Aquarium. The calf has since died.

In 1975, the Vancouver Aquarium was the first aquarium accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The Aquarium is also accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and in 1987 was designated Canada's Pacific National Aquarium by the Canadian Federal Government.

On July 23, 1995, a beluga whale named Qila was born. She was the first beluga to be both conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium. A second calf, Tuvaq, was born on July 30, 2002, but died unexpectedly with no previous sign of illness on July 17, 2005.

In 1996, the Vancouver Aquarium vowed to never again capture cetaceans from the wild, and only obtain cetaceans from other facilities if they too were captured before 1996 (unless a rescue animal).

On June 15, 2006 Canada Post issued a 51 cent domestic rate stamp to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aquarium.

For many years, the primary attraction for visitors was the orca or killer whale show. Indeed, the aquarium was responsible for the first orca ever held alive in captivity, Moby Doll. Since then, it was home to Skana, Hyak II, Finna, Bjossa, and three of Bjossa's calves. When Finna died and Bjossa was left without other orca companions, the aquarium attempted to acquire one of more female orcas from other marine parks. However, no suitable companions were found and Bjossa was moved to Sea World, San Diego. The Aquarium has since moved to emphasize the educational aspects of the displays rather than the public spectacle of the shows. They have also tried to highlight the research and rehabilitation efforts of the staff.

The aquarium has played a significant role in the ground-breaking wild killer whale research in BC. John Ford, a respected researcher who focuses on orca vocalizations, worked there for many years and they still fund a lot of the study. The Wild Killer Whale Adoption Program, which funds research, is also run out of the aquarium.

Spinnaker does a high-jump during dolphin show.

After considerable public debate and despite vocal opposition from animal rights groups, the Vancouver Park Board voted in favour of a proposal to expand the Aquarium at a cost of $80 million. A public consultion process showed 89% of local residents were in favor of the expansion. The proposal will increase the size of the Aquarium by 1.5 acres and extend its lease by 20 years. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2007.^[2]

[edit] Aquarium facility

The aquarium covers approximately 9000 m² (100,000 ft²) and has a total 9.5 million litres (2.5 million gallons) of water in 166 aquatic displays. There are a number of different galleries:

Pacific Canada Pavilion is the central indoor tank, 260,000L. Highlighting the marine life from the Strait of Georgia.
Arctic Canada includes the Beluga whales tank.
The Wild Coast is an outdoor habitat that includes four Pacific White-sided Dolphins, harbour seals, Steller's Sea Lions, and sea otters.
Treasures of the BC Coast is a series of separate exhibits that simulate the various environments with sea life found on the BC coast.
Tropic Zone has a large display of tropical fish, including sharks.
Amazon rainforest a number of large fresh water fish, snakes, caimans, a sloth and other creatures from the Amazon.
Discovery Education Centre contains multiple classrooms for school groups, including a theatre and wet lab.
Canaccord Exploration Gallery engages visitors to learn about marine life through interactive displays.

[edit] Animals at the Aquarium

Two sea otters at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Vanaqua is currently home to around 300 species of fish, almost 30 000 invertebrates, and 56 species of amphibians and reptiles. They also have around 60 mammals and birds.