Volume 3, No. 8. April 25, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a turtle exhibit!
Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, announces the arrival of Turtles:
Journey of Survival, April 12, 2003. Measurements: 23 species of turtles,
17 exhibits, one new gallery with nine tanks and nine plasma screens, 11 audio
crystal turtles. Delivered by COSI Studios.
Turtles can be shy creatures. “We didn’t want people to just walk
by and say, ‘There’s a turtle in his shell, what does he do?’”
said Tim Mullican, executive director of the Newport Aquarium. For its new Turtles:
Journey of Survival exhibit threading throughout the aquarium’s footprint,
the Newport staff placed videos and audio cues to show guests how turtles behave
in the wild. Some of the videos staff shot in the aquarium's quarantine center,
some videos shot in the wild the aquarium purchased, but all relate to a particular
species residing in a nearby tank. That way, guests can look for the Mata Mata
turtle imitating a leaf at the bottom of a stream, or watch the snakeneck turtle
use its long neck for effective foraging in rocks.
Using turtles borrowed from other institutions, turtles rehabilitating for reintroduction
to the wild and some of its own turtles, the Newport Aquarium plans to keep
the temporary exhibit open until Thanksgiving. One section of the exhibit featuring
nine tanks and accompanying plasma video screens will remain as a permanent
fixture in the River Bank gallery.
Newport Aquarium is limited in its ability to stage temporary exhibits because
the building is laid out as a directed tour through themed galleries. However,
the Turtle exhibit utilizes not only gaps in the permanent displays but ceiling
space as well, most effectively in a replica of an archelon, the largest turtle
known to have lived, and a thousand Lucite turtles glowing in black light leading
guests to a hatchling tank with a single loggerhead. “Only one in a thousand
loggerheads will survive,” Mullican said. “You get this idea walking
under the thousands, and then coming to the one hatchling that’s alive.
That’s how many turtles die for the one to survive.” Two grown loggerheads
swim the waters of the aquarium’s signature Surrounded by Sharks exhibit,
adding even more awe to that gallery.
Two days before the Saturday public opening the aquarium hosted some 500 teachers
and members of the media for a preview. The next night donors and VIP’s
received a sneak peek at the exhibit, and on Saturday enough of the public showed
up to keep a steady line at the aquarium’s ticket window, Mullican said.
One measure of the new exhibit’s drawing power came from the collection
boxes where guests could make donations to turtle conservation programs. The
first week the boxes at the coat check collected $700, Mullican said.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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