Shedd Aquarium To Offer Stingray Touch Exhibit This Spring
By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 20, 2013 10:40PM
Have you ever looked at a stingray at the Shedd Aquarium and wanted to touch its skin and feel its motions? Well this spring the Shedd is offering a new outdoor exhibit that would let you do just that.
The exhibit would feature about 40 rays in an 18,000-gallon outdoor pool that is 2 1/2 feet deep, 80 feet long and 22 feet wide. But aren't they dangerous, you say? All rays have barbed tails to ward off predators like sharks, but without that threat, the rays' barbs are clipped as they grow in, as easily as fingernails. Shedd staff will lead guests through the 15-minute touch experience.
Cownose rays and Yellow rays will be on display. Cownose rays grow to a wingspan of about three feet. In the wild, they migrate in large schools from New England to the Caribbean each year. To eat, they contort their bodies, flap their fins and churn sand through their gills to get at oysters, crabs and shellfish.
Yellow rays are round and measure about 12 to 18 inches in diameter. They also live in the Atlantic mostly in the Caribbean, but as far north as North Carolina. To eat, they raise the front of their discs to create a small cave and wait for fish to take shelter inside it.
If you want to get a peek at these two now, head to the Caribbean Reef area at the Shedd. The Stingray Touch exhibit is expected to run April 27 through fall 2013, weather permitting.