Association of Zoos and Aquariums

MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM WINS COVETED AZA EXHIBIT AWARD

CONTACT: Jane Ballentine, (301)562-0777, x 252

CHICAGO, IL, September 18, 2005 – The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) today honored the Monterey Bay Aquarium with the AZA Exhibit Award for "Sharks: Myth and Mystery." Aquarium officials accepted the award at the AZA's 81st Annual Conference, meeting here this week.

Mom and kid looking at shark tank Sharks and rays stir strong feelings and evoke powerful myths around the world. Revered as gods by Pacific Islanders, reviled as monsters in contemporary Western cultures, they're magnificent and mysterious animals whose survival is threatened by human activities.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium unites these elements in Sharks: Myth and Mystery, a new special exhibition that opened April 2, 2004-30 years after Peter Benchley's Jaws imprinted the man-eating shark in the Western public's imagination. The $2.5 million exhibit includes nearly 30 living species, and the rich cultural traditions they inspire-from Africa and the Pacific Islands, to Australia, the Pacific Northwest and Central America. It features some of the largest live-animal displays ever created by the aquarium for a special exhibition and explores how people globally celebrate sharks and rays through art, dance, stories and other traditions. Live exhibits feature scalloped hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, African catsharks, freshwater rays, southern stingrays, Pacific electric rays and more, plus touch pools and other interactive displays.

The exhibit also interprets and integrates with the aquarium's white shark project-a project that, nine months after the opening of Sharks, resulted in the first long-term exhibit of a white shark anywhere in the world.

The Exhibit Award is presented by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for outstanding dedication to conservation issues and construction of exhibit space replicating species natural habitats.

Note: For more information contact Ken Peterson at 831-648-4922.

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