Recent News
World-class free diver to help BZS programmeFriday, February 27, 2015
Students are being offered the chance to learn about the Island’s marine environment from world-class South African free diver Hanli Prinsloo.
Regiment Volunteer Divers Take On Lionfish
Monday, February 02, 2015
A volunteer team of Regiment divers “declared war” on lionfish this past weekend.
Aquarium roof work on schedule
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Work on the aquarium’s new roof is over halfway complete and the project remains well on track, according to Dr Ian Walker.
Students Enjoy “Hands On” Learning With BZS
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Whether for high school seniors about to head off to university, or preschoolers just beginning their educational career, the Bermuda Zoological Society [BZS] has been offering a wide variety of hands-on learning opportunities for Bermuda’s students for many years – and all free of charge for the students and teachers who attend.
Film star Douglas to narrate Ocean Vet
Monday, December 22, 2014
The announcement that Michael Douglas will narrate the upcoming Ocean Vet series is a fitting tribute to the man behind the nature documentary.
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All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
Andy — a tiger shark tagged in Bermuda by scientists from Nova Southeastern University’s [NSU] Guy Harvey Research Institute [GHRI] in 2014 — is now the longest tracked tiger shark on record.
“Travelling approximately 37,565 miles off the eastern coast of the United States and around Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, Andy is now the longest tracked tiger shark on record and shows no sign of slowing down. He’s been going for more than 1,240 days,” GHRI said.
“We are delighted with how long Andy has reported data, which has tremendous value for us as researchers,” said Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., the director of NSU’s GHRI and a professor in the university’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. “This amazing, nearly three and a half year track is revealing clear repeated patterns in the shark’s migrations between summer and winter.”
More than 150 sharks, including tigers, makos and oceanic whitetips, have been tagged by the GHRI in the last decade. The data collected is used to study the migration patterns of these incredible creatures. Andy and many other GHRI tagged sharks can be followed online in near real-time at www.GHRItracking.org.
“Tracking the migration patterns of sharks, like Andy, for extended periods of time allow us to better understand their behavior and habitat utilization, resulting in better knowledge on how to manage the species,” said Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation [GHOF] Chairman Guy Harvey, Ph.D.
According to a paper published in the most recent ICES Journal of Marine Science by Shivji and his colleagues, tiger shark migrations are heavily influenced by a shark’s physical characteristics [i.e. size, age] and environmental variations [i.e. water temperature, prey availability].
“This study, funded by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, NSU’s GHRI, the Shark Foundation [Hai Stiftung] and the Bermuda Shark Project, reveals not only the environmental factors driving these massive migrations by tiger sharks but also highlights how the different age groups behave,” the Institute said. “This information could prompt fisheries managers to reevaluate how best to protect this near-threatened species.