New: Narrated Training Sessions with Sharks
Visitors have long watched in awe on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as we feed the fish that live in our Shark Habitat. Now, we offer the opportunity for you to learn even more about these cool animals during our new Narrated Training Sessions. Watch and listen as you learn how and why we train the sharks that live at Mote.

The Training Sessions take place at 11 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These sessions (which are free with admission) are designed to give our visitors more information about how we care for some of the ocean's top predators and the training methods we use to make sure our sharks are healthy.

In order to take care of our sharks, Mote aquarists actually train the sharks to eat near special targets. Each species of shark is trained to feed at a different type of target.

Dr. Eugenie Clark, Mote's founding director, was the first scientist to ever document that sharks were capable of learning such tasks. She began training sharks back in the 1950s and was able to demonstrate how adaptable sharks really are. Until Clark told the world about her efforts, sharks were thought of as mindless eating machines.

Today, Mote Aquarists train the sandbar, blacknose and nurse sharks to make sure that each animal gets the proper nutrition. This work also allows caregivers to lead individual sharks into a special area for medical checkups.

Interested in learning more about these fascinating animals? Please join us for a session! You'll have the opportunity to listen to the narrated session and to ask questions of Mote staff after it ends.

—Special thanks to the Helen Forde Gander and Mary A. Baldwin Charitable Trust for helping us make these sessions possible.

• Click here to learn more.

Fittingly, our newest exhibit features Hang Tough, a blind green turtle. Hang Tough is:

• A green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
• Hang Tough came to Mote in 1992 with a serious head wound and a fishing hook in one eye. The head wound severed one of his optical nerves, causing blindness in one eye; the fishing hook injury blinded his other eye.
• Though blind, Hang Tough is now thriving in a floor-to-ceiling viewing tank in the new exhibit made possible by Mote Volunteer Penelope Kingman in honor of Barry J. Kingman. Hang Tough is thriving here because of the many hours Mote animal care experts have spent working to make him comfortable with the move.
• Because Hang Tough is blind, state officials determined that the turtle would be better off living at Mote rather than being returned to the wild. Having Hang Tough at Mote Aquarium allows us the opportunity to educate visitors about the issues turtles face in the wild.

In addition to providing a public Aquarium where people can learn more about sea life, Mote also rescues and rehabilitates stranded, injured and sick sea turtles. Mote also has a thriving Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program that has monitored sea turtle nesting since 1982. Our staff and volunteers monitor 35 miles of nesting beaches every day of nesting season between May 1 and October 31. Mote researchers also use satellites to track nesting sea turtles and even some sea turtles that have been rehabilitated at Mote's hospital. Through these tags, researchers have been able to follow turtles on their seafaring journeys.

Exhibit Facts:
Hang Tough's new home holds approximately 18,000 gallons of water; it's teardrop shaped, providing us with access to service the inside and provide care to Hang Tough. The habitat uses mechanical and biological filters. It is also heated and cooled to maintain at 78 to 82-degree F temperature.

By combining the knowledge of top aquarists and leading scientists, SECORE operates at the forefront of innovation in different fields such as coral breeding, sustainability, reef restoration, population genetics or cryopreservation.

This unique approach has led to significant success in the conservation of endangered coral species and paved the way to help preserving one of the earth's most diverse ecosystem — the coral reef.

SECORE is an active partner in public outreach and staff training through its workshop program, and is a competent advisor in all related fields of coral conservation.

• Click here to learn more about SECORE
• Click here to learn more about Mote's Center for Coral Reef Research
• Click here to learn how you can support coral reef research, conservation and outreach programs