Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Big City, Big Fish

This past weekend we spent in Atlanta with my old college roommate, Melissa and her 6 year old nephew,Brady. Melissa was nice enough to let us "crash" at her place and took us the the largest aquarium in the nation. The Georgia Aquarium had some of the neatest exhibits.

Here are Brayden, Brady & Lexi checking out the hide/fur of a sea otter.



And now, learning about the differences between whales with and without teeth. In the 2nd picture, Lexi is holding baleen - which is what whales, without teeth, have attached to their upper jaw.





Of course, Brayden checked out the shark's teeth as well. Did you know sharks can grow an indefinite number of teeth?



Probably the best part of the aquarium was the HUGE (I can't even describe how big it really is) salt water tank.





The large fish above is called a whale shark. It is the largest shark (and one of the least dangerous) in the world.

This next picture wasn't part of the "big tank" but it is too cool not to include. (I apologize the picture is sideways. I tried, obviously unsuccessfully, to get it the right way).



Although the kids all loved the exhibits in the aquarium they also had a lot of fun sliding down the whale slide, especially Lexi. Can you guess what she is holding?



If you guessed (simulated) baleen, you are correct!

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