The U.S.’s largest aquarium is now licensed as a Class R research facility under the Animal Welfare Act. This license is the highest standard of establishing an ethical review of animals involved in research for advanced scientific understanding.

This license gives the Aquarium the ability to consider research with the animals within its collection beyond routine animal care procedures. All Georgia Aquarium animal research, whether inside the Aquarium or in the field, must follow the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) process to evaluate the project and its ethics. The IACUC process is regulated by the Animal Welfare Act under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Institutions with this distinction are closely monitored and have extensive compliance obligations to keep the license.

“The achievement of becoming a Class R Research facility makes Georgia Aquarium a more capable and adaptive institution where animal care and research can be even more aligned. Although, with this new license we will continue our track record of performing minimally invasive research, It also allows us to be more involved in research with other Class R partners. This opens up more collaboration possibilities, better integrating us into the scientific community. – Dr. Alistair Dove, Vice President of Science and Education

IACUC considers several factors when reviewing research projects from Class R facilities: the training and qualifications of the team working on the project and all aspects of animal welfare. That includes social implications, impacts on animals, and well-being management. The committee consists of veterinarians, scientists from other facilities, and lay members from outside the Aquarium to ensure objective review and preserve the public’s interest in ethical animal research

“The achievement of becoming a Class R Research facility makes Georgia Aquarium a more capable and adaptive institution where animal care and research can be even more aligned. Although, with this new license we will continue our track record of performing minimally invasive research,” said Dr. Alistair Dove, vice president of science and education. “It also allows us to be more involved in research with other Class R partners. This opens up more collaboration possibilities, better integrating us into the scientific community.”

Many Class R facilities are universities and focus on mammals and birds for their IACUC-reviewed research. Georgia Aquarium will be applying the IACUC review process to all animals involved in research including coral, jellies, and other invertebrates, in addition to dolphins and whales. The Aquarium is one of five aquariums to hold the Class R license.

To learn more about Georgia Aquarium’s ongoing research and conservation efforts click here.

 

The Dr. Gregory Bossart Memorial One Health Scholarship was launched earlier this year by the One Health Commission and Georgia Aquarium for one student, from anywhere in the world, who is leading a graduate or clinical research project focused on the interconnection between animals, people, plants, and their shared environment.

The inaugural $5,000 USD scholarship award will go to:

Taylor Weary for her One Health Project titled, ‘Healthy Children, Healthy Chimps: Reducing respiratory disease transmission from humans to chimpanzees in Uganda’. Taylor is a DVM/Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

See the winning project narrative:
‘Common cold’ pediatric human pathogens have been identified as the causative agents of reverse zoonotic respiratory disease in wild chimpanzees of Kibale National Park, Uganda with outbreak mortality rates of up to 10%. It is hypothesized that these pathogens circulate in children living near chimpanzee habitats, and that adults in those villages become asymptomatically infected and carry the pathogens into the forest potentially infecting chimpanzees. The objectives of this project are to characterize respiratory pathogens in local children, forest workers, and chimpanzees using comprehensive molecular diagnostics and metagenomic DNA sequencing, and to examine the reverse zoonotic transmission risk that varies with pathogen type, season, environment, and the individual characteristics of humans and chimpanzees. Reverse zoonotic respiratory disease is a major threat to all wild apes, and SARS-CoV-2 has been a “game changer” in this regard. This study establishes prospective matched cohorts to identify where, when and how respiratory pathogens move from people to chimpanzees. The data will lead to evidence-based actions to reduce transmission to the approximately 1,500 chimpanzees of Kibale National Park and, by extension, to apes across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Gregory Bossart, VMD, Ph.D. was a highly respected veterinarian, pathologist, and conservationist committed to advancing the understanding of marine mammals as sentinels of ocean and human health. With a career spanning 30 years and over 200 publications, Dr. Bossart identified resurgent and emerging diseases in dolphins, manatees, birds, and whales. His research and innovative techniques helped characterize the first viral diseases in manatees and he was responsible for developing the first immunohistochemical technique for diagnosing brevetoxicosis (red tide poisoning) in both marine mammals and birds.

Dr. Bossart was also a dedicated proponent of the One Health concept and approach which was a prominent theme in his long-running Atlantic bottlenose dolphin Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (HERA) project. Started in 2003, HERA was developed to monitor how dolphin health in coastal habitats is impacted by environmental stressors and how those stressors potentially also impact human health. His contributions to the study of marine mammal health are far-reaching, and through this scholarship, Georgia Aquarium and the One Health Commission are committed to honoring Dr. Bossart’s One Health legacy. For more information on the Dr. Gregory Bossart Memorial One Health Scholarship, click here

Georgia Aquarium has partnered with Georgia Natural Gas (GNG) to add a new interactive element in its southern sea otter exhibit. This innovative feature will include two interactive games that teach visitors the important role southern sea otters play in reducing carbon emissions while also learning how guests can help protect the environment by making their natural gas usage carbon neutral with the Greener Life® program from GNG.

Through these two interactive games, Georgia Aquarium guests can learn about this important ecological connection in a fun and engaging way. Guests can challenge themselves or go head-to-head with another player as they attempt to earn as many carbon offsets as possible by collecting sea urchins or knocking out carbon emissions within a time limit to save the kelp.

Kelp is a seaweed that thrives in cool coastal waters worldwide, often in groups called kelp forests. Kelp use photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide (CO₂) into biomass and can naturally reduce a substantial amount of carbon emissions. Kelp is anchored to the seafloor by a root-like structure called a holdfast. A large population of sea urchins can decimate a kelp forest by eating the holdfasts. By hunting sea urchins, sea otters keep the population in check – and in turn the kelp forests can thrive and continue to reduce carbon emissions through photosynthesis. Sea otters are considered a keystone species because of their role in keeping this underwater ecosystem in balance.

“We are always looking for innovative ways to reduce our environmental impact and to share that message with our guests,” said Michael Lewis, vice president of exhibits and projects at Georgia Aquarium. “This new interactive feature gives us the opportunity to educate guests on the importance of reducing carbon emissions in an engaging way. Working with Georgia Natural Gas to create this exhibit for our guests was a simple choice for us since we already partner with them to reduce our own emissions footprint using GNG’s Greener Life for Business program. Combining our message of promoting the conservation of wildlife species with the protection of our planet has given our guests a fun, hands-on addition to our popular sea otter exhibit.”

“We are always looking for innovative ways to reduce our environmental impact and to share that message with our guests,” said Michael Lewis, vice president of exhibits and projects at Georgia Aquarium. “This new interactive feature gives us the opportunity to educate guests on the importance of reducing carbon emissions in an engaging way. Working with Georgia Natural Gas to create this exhibit for our guests was a simple choice for us since we already partner with them to reduce our own emissions footprint using GNG’s Greener Life for Business program. Combining our message of promoting the conservation of wildlife species with the protection of our planet has given our guests a fun, hands-on addition to our popular sea otter exhibit.”

“Georgia Natural Gas is keenly focused on helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint, which is why we make it simple for them to offset emissions from their natural gas use with Greener Life,” said John Jamieson, vice president of retail operations at GNG. “Educating the public about the important role sea otters also play in reducing emissions by sponsoring this new exhibit at Georgia Aquarium is a natural extension of our work. We hope visitors will enjoy the exhibit and join us in the important work of protecting our environment.”

The Greener Life program is an optional product from GNG that helps its consumers do their part for the environment and reduce their carbon emissions footprint. For all those participating, GNG uses Environmental Protection Agency standards to calculate the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from customers’ use of natural gas. GNG then purchases and retires carbon offsets to balance the impact of those customers’ emissions. The greenhouse gas emissions being offset by the Greener Life program are those associated with the combustion of natural gas at the point of consumption only, and do not include lifecycle emission that occur during extraction, production, or delivery.

Visit Georgia Aquarium to check out this new interactive installation in their southern sea otter exhibit and to learn more about the importance of reducing carbon emissions and protecting this crucial species. Residential consumers looking to lessen their environmental impact can visit gng.com/greenerlife.

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About Georgia Natural Gas

Georgia Natural Gas is the leading natural gas provider in Georgia and part of SouthStar Energy Services. SouthStar is owned by Southern Company Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). SouthStar also operates as Ohio Natural Gas, Florida Natural Gas, Maryland Energy, Pennsylvania Energy, Grand Rapids Energy (in Michigan), and in other parts of the Southeast as SouthStar Energy Services. SouthStar’s subsidiaries in Illinois operate as Illinois Energy and Illinois Energy Solutions. For more information, visit www.southstarenergy.com

About Southern Company Gas

Southern Company Gas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America’s premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves approximately 4.3 million natural gas customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states with approximately 666,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit www.southerncompanygas.com