Tech nerds always want in on beta testing of the hottest new advances. They’d be envious of the manta rays at Georgia Aquarium, who recently got to try out new IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) tags designed to track the migration patterns and seasonality of giant oceanic manta rays that live in the waters near Canaveral Shoals, Florida.

Jake Levenson, a marine biologist with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)  said, “tapping the unique skills and resources of the experts at Georgia Aquarium was crucial to the development, design and testing of the IMU tags in a controlled environment before BOEM uses them in the wild.” One of BOEM’s functions is to oversee dredging ocean sand for beach nourishment, shore protection and wetland restoration. The tagging giant ocean mantas will help BOEM understand their habits to avoid disturbing these endangered fish during dredging operations.

with the collaboration between BOEM and Georgia Aquarium focused  on innovative techniques to track manta rays. After a series of obstacles to gathering migratory information due to inclement weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, and difficulty both applying IMU tags and getting them to adhere to the manta rays, the team focused their attention fully to inventing open-access techniques and technologies to study manta rays. Georgia Aquarium is the only aquarium in the United States that provides care for manta rays, and the mantas living at the aquarium helped test their prototypes.

“Testing the IMU tags at Georgia Aquarium provided a controlled environment that allowed the engineers to improve on the tag and attachment design with each deployment to hopefully one day result in success in the field,” said Katelyn Herman, manager of conservation programs at Georgia Aquarium and a researcher on the project .  In-house trials with the Aquarium’s manta rays led to a series of improvements to address floatation, orientation and improved hydrodynamic flow.

When suction using compressed air failed to adhere the tags, the team turned to Vaseline, Manuka honey and finally peanut butter(!) to improve retention times. “Peanut butter gave us the best results by far, enabling retention for up to four hours,” Herman said.

The open-source IMU tag design will provide a resource for future research to understand this elusive and important endangered species, Herman said. “Georgia Aquarium’s manta rays played a big part in assisting the ongoing conservation efforts of their species.”

To learn more about Georgia Aquarium’s conservation work, click here.

Marine mammals in modern zoos and aquariums are living two to three times longer than wild counterparts, according to a new study.

A new study provides compelling evidence that animal care and management practices at zoos and aquariums have significantly improved over time. The study, led by Species360 and University of Southern Denmark Research Scientist Dr. Morgane Tidière in collaboration with 41 co-authors from academic, governmental, and zoological institutions around the world, including Georgia Aquarium, is the first to examine life expectancy and lifespan equality together as a proxy of population welfare in marine mammal species.

The study also found that marine mammal species live longer in zoological institutions than in the wild as a result of advances in animal care practices centred on animal welfare. The results have been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Study authors used the same statistical methods used to assess improvements in human population welfare to analyse data from the world’s largest database of information on wildlife in human care – the Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).

The study examined 200 years worth of data from ZIMS, dating as far back as the early 1800s up until 2020, to look at whether four marine mammal species – the harbour seal, California sea lion, polar bear, and common bottlenose dolphin – have seen improved conditions of life in human care, and whether that can be observed through a progressive concentration of individuals reaching old age.

Applying the same methodology using additional data sources for wild populations, the authors examine whether these four marine mammal species are living longer lives in zoos and aquariums, compared to their counterparts in the wild.

The study authors found that the life expectancy of the four marine mammal species has increased by over three times, and that the rate of deaths in the first year of life has declined by up to 31% over the last century in zoos and aquariums included in the study. Additionally, the life expectancy of these species in zoos and aquariums is currently two to three times longer than their counterparts in the wild.

“The advances in care provided to marine mammals is remarkable, and it’s gratifying to look data from numerous institutions over many years and validate that marine mammals living in aquariums and zoos are living long, healthy lives,” said Eric Gaglione, Vice President of Zoological Operations at Georgia Aquarium and a co-author on the study.

In addition to looking at how long these four species are living, researchers looked at how many of them are living well by examining lifespan equality which can show if a population is consistently living longer lives and avoiding less predictable, earlier causes of death. Researchers found conclusively that the four species have a progressively increasing lifespan equality across time in zoological institutions. They also highlight that current populations of the four species living in zoological institutions included in the study have a higher lifespan equality than their counterparts in the wild.

The researchers found a significant improvement in longevity and lifespan equality for the four species from the 1990s onwards, which is believed to be a result of advancements in zoological practices, such as implementing advanced veterinary, environmental, nutritional and enrichment measures, as well as the voluntary cooperation of animals in routine examinations through positive reinforcement training.

These improvements in how progressive zoos and aquariums care for animals is a result of the establishment of regional and national zoo associations, accreditation standards, coordinated breeding programs, shared databases and professional networks which foster knowledge sharing – thereby collectively improving animal welfare.

Lead study author, Dr. Morgane Tidière, Species360, commented on the significance of the study, saying; “Our findings indicate that significant progress has been made in enhancing the welfare of marine mammals in zoological institutions, as a result of improvements in management practices in progressive zoos and aquariums. Professional zoos and aquariums of today cannot be compared to zoos 30 years ago.” Dr. Tidière continues: “This kind of research is possible as a result of the standardised data collected and shared by Species360 member zoos and aquariums around the world.”

The study authors note that these results reflect the average welfare of marine mammals in Species360 member facilities, rather than demonstrating a global minimum standard achieved by all zoos and aquariums worldwide. Nonetheless, these findings serve as evidence of positive progress in the management and care of animals within professional  zoological facilities. The researchers hope the findings inspire other institutions, which are not part of professional zoo and aquarium bodies, to invest time and resources into enhancing their animal management practices.

The results of this study contribute to the ongoing dialogue surrounding the wellbeing of animals in zoos and aquariums and may help inform future policy decisions. It demonstrates the importance of scientific research in understanding and improving the lives of animals in zoological institutions. The preliminary results have already informed legislative decisions in France and Spain, guiding evidence-based choices regarding the care of marine mammals in these settings.

The full study can be read here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.1895.

Additional Notes:

• The four species in the study, harbour seal, California sea lion, polar bear, and common bottlenose dolphin were chosen to study as these species have the largest sample sizes and represent 63.4% of all marine mammals recorded in the global Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).
• The study examined data on 8,864 individuals of four marine mammal species.
• More than 1,200 zoological institutions in over 100 countries worldwide record animal data in the Species360 Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS).

For further information or media inquiries, please contact:

Gavrielle Kirk-Cohen, Species360
communications@species360.org

Paige Hale, Georgia Aquarium
phale@georgiaaquarium.org