Georgia Aquarium has been involved in field research on whale sharks since 2005. The current focus is in Mexico, where whale sharks gather annually in the shallow coastal waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, not too far from Cancun. So far we have asked: How many whale sharks are there? Why do they come? Where do they go? This year, research focuses on trying to understand an unprecedented gathering that occurred last year, in which hundreds of whale sharks gathered in a tiny patch of water further offshore, to feed on fish eggs. We’ll also look at how whale sharks sniff out food like that, in the vast expanses of the ocean.
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With partners in the National Marine Fisheries Service, Georgia Aquarium helped pioneer health assessments for beluga whales in Alaska in 2008, using methods developed in the aquarium setting. This year, work will focus on understanding nutrition of beluga whales in Bristol Bay relative to the population in Cook Inlet, which was recently listed as endangered. In particular, we will work out what belugas eat based on stable isotopes in their blood and biopsies, as well as test for any exposure to pollution.

Bottle-nosed dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon are excellent sentinels of environmental health because they are permanent residents of the lagoon and are at the top of the food chain, so they can indicate problems below them in the ecosystem. Senior Vice President Dr. Greg Bossart has been heavily involved in understanding the health of these animals for many years. They face a number of threats from pollution and emerging infectious diseases, so work will continue in 2010 in partnership with Florida Atlantic University and the federal Government. This research will take full advantage of the Aquarium’s Dolphin Conservation Field Station in St. Augustine.
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Georgia Aquarium has partnered with non-profit wildlife rehabilitation group SANCCOB to study, for the first time anywhere, the health of free-ranging African penguins, like those in our Cold Water Quest gallery. Sampling will take place off the coast of Namibia, on the western side of South Africa.

Among other tropical places, manatees occur in the shallow coastal waters of Quintana Roo, Mexico, but little is known about their health, so this project seeks to understand whether manatees in this area show any signs of heavy metal contamination.

Georgia Aquarium and the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences have something in common: operating two of the largest living reef aquariums in the world. This is a tremendous technical challenge, so staff from the two aquariums are collaborating to better understand how to build and maintain thriving live reef exhibits on such a large scale.

Many people are unaware that the endangered loggerhead turtle nests in several wildlife refuges right here on the Georgia Coast. Georgia Aquarium is partnering with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Caretta Research Project to survey these turtle nesting areas in Georgia so we can better understand the needs of both adults and offspring, and how to protect them. Learn more about the Aquarium’s efforts to rehabilitate, release and track loggerhead sea turtles.
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With their graceful polka-dotted wings, eagle rays are found in all the tropical oceans of the world, but only recently has it been realized that they reproduce in the coastal waters of Florida. In partnership with the Shark Research group at Mote Marine Laboratory, Georgia Aquarium staff will study the population size, make-up and movements near Sarasota, to build vital knowledge about these poorly understood but beautiful creatures.

Did you know that the right whale is Georgia’s state mammal? These large baleen whales breed every year in the warm waters of the South Atlantic Bight, which includes the Georgia coast. This year the aquarium is partnering with scientists from Woods Hole to monitor right whale populations in our state.

A lot of research activities happen at the aquarium in the course of regular veterinary medicine. Some of the work we’ll do this year includes measuring the effectiveness and dynamics of new drugs in shark patients, understanding what “normal” blood values are for some other fish, and how sharks react to stress.
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