On Monday, March 19th, the Geography 368 class visited the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The aquarium is divided into two separate buildings: one dedicated to saltwater organisms and one dedicated to freshwater organisms. The aquarium was accommodating and provided discounted tickets to each of the students that were able to provide a student ID. Each of the aquarium buildings are designed to start on the top floor and follow the exhibits to the lower floors. The top floor of the ocean aquarium building was extremely interactive with a large pool of stingrays and small sharks that visitors could touch. On the top floor there also was a room designated to many varieties of butterfly. In the room visitors could hold and observe the actions of the butterflies. On the lower floors oceanic species like penguins, a wide variety of different jellyfish, octopus, and crab were displayed in exhibits. |
Photo Credit: Dr. Ezra Zeitler
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The freshwater aquarium building was divided into different geographic ranges with the species that inhabit each range. Again this building was designed to work from the top down. The top floor of the freshwater aquarium building is designated to the species of the Appalachian Cave forest. Species included in this exhibit consist of the corn snake, river otter, and brook trout. The next geographic range explored was the Canyon. In this exhibit the main attraction was a pool where visitors could touch sturgeon. The next exhibit focused on Delta Country, which consisted of turtle and alligator exhibits. Other featured geographical range designated exhibits included a Tropical and Tennessee River exhibit.
The Tennessee Aquarium provided our Geography 368 class a view into the marine organisms that inhabit the Tennessee area. The aquarium was interactive allowing us to touch some of the animals including sturgeon, stingrays, small sharks, and butterflies. The aquarium drove home the message of conservation and humans doing their part to protect the animals and natural environments of the world, so the aquarium was especially interesting to geography students with an environmental emphasis as the aquarium is involved in several local conservation efforts, but all students enjoyed the aquarium. |
Photo Credit: Shannon Rose
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Beyond the purpose of the aquarium presenting the wildlife of aquatic environments, it also provided a beneficial platform for the class to observe and experience the tourism industry in Chattanooga. The aquarium attracted many young families and the aquarium was filled with excited children. The development of the aquarium in the downtown area of the city of Chattanooga brings in tourists to the area to spend money at local shops, restaurants, and hotels benefiting the economy of the community.