Have you Been to The Mote?

October 13, 2011 Filed under Travel Posted by Tom Ski

Mote Marine Laboratory has been a leader in marine research since it was founded in 1955. Today, we incorporate public outreach as a key part of our mission. Mote is an independent nonprofit organization and has seven centers for marine research, the public Mote Aquarium and an Education Division specializing in public programs for all ages.

Think sharks are just eating machines? Learn the truth during Mote Aquarium’s new narrated shark training sessions.

Visitors have long watched in awe on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as we feed the fish that live in our Shark Habitat. Now, we offer the opportunity for you to learn even more about these cool animals during our new Narrated Shark Training Sessions. Watch and listen as you learn how and why we train the sharks that live at Mote.

The Training Sessions take place at 11 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These sessions (which are free with admission) are designed to give our visitors more information about how we care for some of the ocean’s top predators and the training methods we use to make sure our sharks are healthy.

In order to take care of our sharks, Mote aquarists actually train the sharks to eat near special targets. Each species of shark is trained to feed at a different type of target.

Dr. Eugenie Clark, Mote’s founding director, was the first scientist to ever document that sharks were capable of learning such tasks. She began training sharks back in the 1950s and was able to demonstrate how adaptable sharks really are. Until Clark told the world about her efforts, sharks were thought of as mindless eating machines.

Today, Mote Aquarists train the sandbar, blacknose and nurse sharks to make sure that each animal gets the proper nutrition. This work also allows caregivers to lead individual sharks into a special area for medical checkups.

Interested in learning more about these fascinating animals? Please join us for a session! You’ll have the opportunity to listen to the narrated session and to ask questions of Mote staff after it ends