Sharks and Humans 169
juvenile White Sharks in its huge Open Sea tank for periods ranging from
11 days to up to 6½ months before tagging and releasing the sharks back
into the wild. Five of the six survived their releases and were tracked suc-
cessfully for varying periods. (One died in a fisherman’s net.)
The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is the only facility in the United
States that has been able to display very large elasmobranchs; it has manta
rays and Whale Sharks in its Ocean Voyager tank. The Georgia Aquar-
ium came under strong criticism in 2007 when two of its much-publicized
Whale Sharks, Ralph and Norton, died.
The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and the Lisbon Oceanarium have
also kept manta rays successfully, and the Okinawa rays produced live off-
spring from two births. The Churaumi Aquarium has also kept Whale
Sharks successfully, as have the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and the Ka-
goshima Ioworld Aquarium in Japan, the Kenting National Museum of Bi-
ology and Aquarium in Taiwan, and the Polar Ocean World in Qingdao,
China.