By Pat Foster-Turley
Bucko and I are not really fans of Thanksgiving and Christmas. With no children and grandchildren to spoil and no church that we attend, the holidays are mostly lost on us. But it is a time to see family and I’m all about that. Last week, I avoided the usual busy travel days and flew up to see my family in Philadelphia between the two holidays. And what fun it was.
In just five days I ate in Thai and Malaysian restaurants, bought food at the Italian market, visited the Philadelphia Christmas market, watched ice skaters at the “Rothman Orthopedics Rink” by the city hall (curious source of support, right?), attended a concert with Renaissance instruments in a historic Episcopal church, and hung out with family. But for me, the biologist, the most interesting experience was visiting the Camden Adventure Aquarium.
This aquarium isn’t in Philadelphia, but just about. It was built years ago to help with the redevelopment of the Camden waterfront, situated right across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, affording great views of the city skyline. Originally, this aquarium was designed to show off local marine life, but soon they discovered that many varieties of mostly silver or brown fish were not much of an attraction. Over the years their focus has changed into what it is today: an unusual variety of species from all over, interactive exhibits and, right now, a very Christmassy theme. I visited with my niece Ellen and her four-year-old daughter Charlotte, a perfect audience to share it with.
Amazingly, this aquarium had Nile hippos, two of them, in a large exhibit with plenty of land area and a huge pool with huge windows where they could be viewed up close. I could have watched them forever, with all the various freshwater fish browsing on algae on their hides and right up against the windows watching the people watching them. I’ve seen hippos in the wild during my Africa times, of course, but this underwater view really showed them off in a less frightening way.
And then there were the blue penguins. Who knew that tiny penguins with bluish-colored feathers live in New Zealand, and now are here on display? And wow, are these animals quick in the water — so fast swimming by that I barely could photograph them. For long minutes I watched their antics. Three of them were squabbling on land in the background over something or another, and one was chasing another in the water for some purloined tidbit. Fun!
The aquarium Christmas theme was a bit over the top, but Charlotte and the other small children loved it. Christmas “trees” and decorations adorned many of the fish displays. Santa, outfitted with scuba gear, visited the children gathered around the reef tank for the show. Even the smaller aquarium displays had seasonal-themed additions. A large lobster rested near colored globes, reef fish hid in crevices in artificial decorations, and the whole facility was decorated with all things Christmas.
All of this was interesting, of course, but the best exhibit for me by far was understated but powerful. A group of jellyfish in a large aquarium were displayed along with floating plastic bags. It is one thing to say that sea turtles mistake ubiquitous plastic bags for their food of jellyfish, but to see these items floating together makes it all the more real. Eating plastic bags is often fatal for turtles and other marine life, and how can they be faulted for mistaking the items? Plastic is a scourge of the sea, and this simple exhibit dramatically shows at least one reason why.
The aquarium visit was certainly fun for young Charlotte, but the best part for her seemed to be the pile of fallen leaves right outside. She jumped in the piles, tossed the leaves and laughed happily. But finally, for us adults, enough was enough and we had to drag her out of the pile.
I hope everyone reading this has a great holiday too. You may not see Santa underwater, like I did. And you may not watch skaters at a rink supported by an orthopedics practice, but there is plenty to do here as well. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, one and all!
Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com