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The Vancouver Aquarium is a public aquarium located in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In addition to being one of the attractions for visitors to Vancouver, it is a well respected centre for marine research, conservation and marine animal rehabilitation. It is often referred to as VA or Vanaqua by common visitors. The aquarium is run by a self-supporting not-for-profit association. The operation of the aquarium receives no government funding. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver and managed by the City Parks Board.
Aquarium history The Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was formed in 1950. Officially Canada's first public Aquarium, it opened on June 15 1956. The Vancouver Aquarium has become the largest in Canada and one of the five largest in North America. The Aquarium is internationally recognized for display and interpretation excellence, and was the first facility to incorporate professional naturalists into the galleries to interpret animal behaviours. Aquarium research projects extend world-wide, and are internationally recognized for marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation. The Aquarium has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured marine mammals for more than forty years. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has treated more than 2,000 seals, sea lions, elephant seals, otters, dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The program also helped rescue Springer, an orphaned killer whale successfully released and reunited with her family pod. Among other high profile rescues include the successful returning of a beached gray whale back to the water in 2005 and the rescue of Schoona, a lost green sea turtle near Prince Rupert, BC. In 1975, the Vancouver Aquarium was the first aquarium accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). The Aquarium is also accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and in 1987 was designated Canada's Pacific National Aquarium by the Canadian Federal Government. On July 23, 1995, a beluga whale named Qila was born. She was the first beluga to be both conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium. A second calf, Tuvaq, was born on July 30, 2002, but died unexpectedly with no previous sign of illness on July 17, 2005. In 1996, the Vancouver Aquarium vowed to never again capture cetaceans from the wild, and only obtain cetaceans from other facilities if they too were captured before 1996 (unless a rescue animal). On June 15, 2006 Canada Post issued a 51 cent domestic rate stamp to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aquarium. For many years, the primary attraction for visitors was the orca or killer whale show. Indeed, the aquarium was responsible for the first orca ever held alive in captivity, Moby Doll. Since then, it was home to Skana, Hyak II, Finna, Bjossa, and three of Bjossa's calves. When Finna died and Bjossa was left without other orca companions, the aquarium attempted to acquire one of more female orcas from other marine parks. However, no suitable companions were found and Bjossa was moved to Sea World, San Diego. The Aquarium has since moved to emphasize the educational aspects of the displays rather than the public spectacle of the shows. They have also tried to highlight the research and rehabilitation efforts of the staff. The aquarium has played a significant role in the ground-breaking wild killer whale research in BC. John Ford, a respected researcher who focuses on orca vocalizations, worked there for many years and they still fund a lot of the study. The Wild Killer Whale Adoption Program, which funds research, is also run out of the aquarium. Aquarium facility The aquarium covers approximately 9000 m² (100,000 ft²) and has a total 9.5 million litres (2.5 million gallons) of water in 166 aquatic displays. There are a number of different galleries: Animals at the Aquarium Vanaqua is currently home to around 300 species of fish, almost 30 000 invertebrates, and 56 species of amphibians and reptiles. They also have around 60 mammals and birds. Pacific White-Sided Dolphins Belugas Stellers Sea Lions Harbour Seals Sea Otters | |||||||||||||||||||||
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