Feeding Time @Epcot

We were lucky enough to be at the Epcot aquarium at feeding time. So interesting. Some quick facts about the aquarium:

The pavilion's signature 5.7 million gallon salt-water tank, named Caribbean Coral Reef, is home to 6,000 inhabitants representing over 60 species—including sea turtles, angelfish, dolphins, rays, sharks and a very special manatee rehabilitation area.

It is huge. But all of the fish are hand fed, and we learned how. First of all the sharks. They are fed very early in the morning before anyone is in the building and the water is dark. They swim to the surface of the water and are fed with six foot long tongs. They never see a person and therefore they never associate humans with an opportunity for food. This makes it safe for scuba divers to enter the water.

The rest of the fish are actually fed by hand. A diver comes into the tank at the same time, twice a day. She holds a PVC pipe and the sting ray have been trained to touch their nose to it to get a handful of live clams. The littler fish gather under the sting ray to catch any crumbs. After the ray have been fed, the diver returns to feed the smaller schooling fish. You just have to watch the video to see this. (and the very end you can hear Greg's opinion of it all)

I appreciate that Disney offers so many fun family activities that are educational too- especially at Epcot. Lessens the guilt of taking the kids out of school for an entire week!