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Name:
Shannon Kane |
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Title:
Senior Aquarist |
Park:
Discovery Cove Orlando |
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Hometown:
Waterford, Connecticut
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Time with
Busch Gardens :
Five years
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Background: I grew up on a river in Connecticut, where I learned to love the water and all the animals who live in it. I pursued my interest by attending the University of Rhode Island and graduated in 1999 with my bachelor of science degree in marine biology. From there I took an internship at Mystic Aquarium working with fish and invertebrates. During this time I had the opportunity to work with several different species of sharks, and I developed a passion for these mysterious creatures. Once my internship was over, I wanted to continue in the marine science field. I accepted an educator position with a local program that took middle school students out on boats to teach them about the natural history and biology of Long Island Sound. While working there, I saw an aquarist position posted about a new park that was opening up in Florida called Discovery Cove, where guests could interact closely with many different species of animal life. I thought, “What a perfect combination of teaching people about the oceans and getting hands-on with the animals I fell in love with as a kid.” I applied and have been working here ever since.
Highlights: I love teaching the guests at Discovery Cove about what they can do to help conserve our critically threatened oceans. I also like to put guests’ fears to rest and show them how unique and interesting sharks and rays can be and that they are not really all that scary.
Favorite part of the job: Our job is like no other aquarist job in the world because we are in the water observing our animals all the time. We get to witness some of the little-known behaviors of many different fish and quite often get to see stingray pups being born.
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