Description of the attraction
The New York Aquarium is the oldest permanent aquarium in the United States. In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy severely damaged it, but in May 2013 the attraction partially reopened.
At first, the aquarium was located in Battery Park - it was built there in 1896. Then the public was shown only 150 specimens of fish and animals. Subsequently, when the famous zoologist Charles Haskins Townsend became the director of the institution, the collection grew significantly and attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. In 1957, the aquarium moved to its current location - literally on the oceanic beach of Coney Island.
It was this romantic location that nearly destroyed the aquarium when Hurricane Sandy hit the coast. Sea water burst into the basements of all buildings on six hectares of the park, damaged the electricity supply, as a result of which many fish died. A small group of employees who were then in the aquarium were able to save the rest of the inhabitants. The $ 6 million cleanup and renovation took seven months and is still incomplete, but part of the park is already open to the public.
In particular, an open-air aquatic theater has been reconstructed, where impressive performances with the participation of California sea lions are held. These smart sea animals perform various tricks with visible pleasure: crawling, diving, "serving", playing with a ball and giving a voice.
In the "Sea Cliffs" section, a ninety-meter strip imitates the North Pacific coast - where visitors admire black-footed penguins, seals, sea otters and walruses. Children love to watch the feeding of animals, turned into a kind of show: walruses suck herring out of a huge "straw", penguins jump for fish, and otters play ball with the attendants. Otters generally love such fun - they do not eat food that has fallen into their paws at once, but for a long time sniff, grab, sort out and have fun with it, like with a toy.
In the "Conservation Hall", visitors are amazed at the diversity of the underwater world: here you can see the inhabitants of coral reefs, fish from African freshwater lakes and the flooded forests of Brazil.
It is assumed that the aquarium will fully open in 2016, when the construction of a new building with a reservoir with a volume of 500 thousand liters for sharks, sea turtles, rays and thousands of schooling fish is completed. In the meantime, visitors are charged less money for a ticket than before.
