Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is a public aquarium in Toronto, Canada. The aquarium is one of three aquariums owned and operated by Ripley Entertainment. It is located in downtown Toronto, just southeast of the CN Tower. The aquarium has 5.7 million liters (1.25 million gallons) of marine and freshwater habitats worldwide. The exhibits hold more than 20,000 exotic sea and freshwater specimens from more than 450 species.
History
A Ripley’s Aquarium was originally planned in 2004 to be built in Niagara Falls, Ontario,[2] next to Great Wolf Lodge around 2007. Still, plans fell through, and Ripley’s eventually relocated to Toronto. Construction began on the attraction in August 2011 with a final cost approaching CA$130 million. The aquarium opened to the public in October 2013.
The project was a partnership with three levels of government. The federal government’s Canada Lands Company contributed CA$10 million to the project to develop the “John Street Corridor” linking Front Street with the aquarium, the CN Tower, and the Rogers Centre. The Government of Ontario contributed CA$11 million to the project, and the City of Toronto government provided property-tax incentives amounting to CA$8 million and CA$12 million over the first twelve years of the aquarium.
Ripley’s Aquarium has been the target of animal liberation groups such as TARA (Toronto Aquarium Resistance) and MAD (Marineland Animal Defence), which claim animal captivity is synonymous with animal abuse. They regularly conduct protests and demonstrations at the facility. Prominent animal conservationist Bob Timmons has publicly spoken out against Ripley Aquarium’s capture of endangered tiger sharks.
Exhibits
- The Canadian Waters exhibit features animals from all the bodies of water surrounding the country. The gallery has 17 habitats. Some animals featured in this exhibit include: alewife, largemouth bass, American lobster, wolf eel, lumpfish, giant Pacific octopus, china rockfish
- The Rainbow Reef features animals from the Indo-Pacific water regions and is the most colorful gallery in the exhibit, hence its name. Some species in this exhibit include Picasso triggerfish, humbug dascyllus, emperor angelfish, pajama cardinalfish, and unicorn surgeonfish. The exhibit also features an interactive dive show. Bed Bug Exterminator Toronto
- The Dangerous Lagoon is an underwater tunnel with a moving conveyor belt, the aquarium’s largest tank. This featured exhibit animals include sand tiger, sandbar shark, roughtail stingray, long comb sawfish, and green sea turtles.
- The Discovery Centre features various hands-on activities, such as underwater viewing bubbles, a pop-up research submarine, and a touch pool that allows visitors to touch living fossils. Discovery Centre’s inhabitants include clownfish, palette surgeonfish, and horseshoe crab. The Touch exhibits allow visitors to touch the skins of various animals like sharks and sting rays with the help of aquarium employees. This gallery is home to white-spotted bamboo sharks, brown-banded bamboo sharks, southern stingrays, and cow nose rays.
- The Gallery exhibit, also known as Mother Nature’s Art Gallery, features some of the most delicate underwater species worldwide. This exhibit features the red lionfish, electric eel, lined seahorse, and archerfish. This exhibit features six saltwater and three freshwater exhibits.
Address: 288 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, CA
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