Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
(“roundabout” being an English term for carousel or merry-go-round).
Construction had begun when Herald died.
John McCosker, a doctoral graduate from the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, was a first-class ichthyologist who would, in time, be-
come an authority on the biology of great white sharks. Back in 1974,
though, he had little experience with aquariums, and the prospect of
completing this major new exhibit was daunting.
When he called with his invitation to come back to Steinhart, the
timing couldn't have been better. Dissatisfaction at Sea World due to
changes in management and the continuous postponement of a deci-
sion to build a dedicated shark exhibit had me feeling somewhat rest-
less. Although Steinhart didn't have a large shark exhibit, it had a great
diversity of animals from around the world, and I saw many oppor-
tunities to create new exhibits in addition to getting the Fish Round-
about up and running. I accepted McCosker's o¤er, and Betty, Eve,
Amy, and I pulled up our roots once again for the move back to the
San Francisco Bay area.
Steinhart paid our moving costs, but in some ways this move was
more di‹cult for us. Our daughters were now teenagers and they'd made
close friendships that were broken by my career decision. Selling a house
in San Diego and looking for and buying one in the Bay Area was an-
other hassle. The girls and I drove up to Marin County so they could
be there for the beginning of the fall school semester. The three of us
lived in a motel until our San Diego house sold and Betty could join
us and we moved into our new home. Somehow we survived.
Despite these worries, I was delighted to be back at Steinhart again
and to see many of the exhibits I'd helped set up nine years earlier. It
wasn't long before I was in the swing of things and again making col-
lecting dives in Monterey.
I also worked on designs for exhibits that would show visitors
something they'd never seen before. An animal can be interesting be-
cause of its appearance—bright color, unusual anatomy, or e¤ective
camouflage, for example— or because of an intriguing behavior. Dis-
playing an animal with an interesting appearance is easy: you simply
put it in an exhibit and the visitors can immediately see what's special
about it. Showing an interesting behavior, however, isn't as simple. Some
Search WWH ::
Custom Search