Sea Mammal Skulls in Manhattan Beach California

in #life4 years ago

Interesting Little Aquarium

We were in Manhattan Beach yesterday and decided to take a walk down to the pier. We always walk down the pier where there sits a tiny little building with an aquarium sign on it, but we've never actually gone inside.

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We went in and had a little look around when we came across these awesome skulls. To me, these creatures look like dinosaurs! The above skull belonged to a male elephant seal. I would not have wanted to get bitten by that guy.

Actually, have a look at this photo:

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This is a picture of the pier from the walking path on the strand. You can see the bicycle path there below and off in the distance, you can see the little aquarium at the end of the pier.

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Around here they have the fanciest and fittest lifeguards you'll find anywhere. Pretty much like a real life version of Baywatch in these beach cities. It doesn't hurt that Manhattan Beach is one of the most expensive towns in the world.

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Look at the jaws on that beast! Would you have guessed that it was an orca whale? Hmm... I guess this orca whale didn't HODL. Bad crypto humor.

They also have a few actual living sea creatures in the aquarium. I suppose it wouldn't be much of an aquarium without... an aquarium.

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To be fair, there really isn't a whole lot of anything in this place. It is quite small!

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And pretty dark as well. It was a bit of a struggle to get a photo that wasn't grainy with my smartphone. I think it's time for a phone upgrade!

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These two were pretty cool as well. They are bottlenose dolphin skulls. I presume that one is a juvinile, but I'm am not certain. I didn't read all of the information. I may be a bit lazy; there is a lot of text in this building!

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I can't find the photo at the moment, but my father in law was taking some pretty funny pictures with this shark. He seems to like making scared posing photos with sea animals for some reason.

Anyhow, I hope all is well in the Steem community! I have been keeping very busy with work recently and haven't had a lot of time to post. Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Don't forget to Spring Forward! (Annoying daylight savings time change)

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From a distance that building looks much to small to hold all of that stuff inside of it. I am pretty impressed by how perfectly the animals jaws line up. I guess they don't have much need for braces in the sea! Nice photos!

Yeah it is a tiny little building. believe it or not, it has 2 stories! It's kind of like a TARDIS. lol!

I have actually thought that about animal teeth before. I wonder why humans have such a high rate of crooked teeth compared to other animals? Maybe we are too inbred. haha

No way! Two stories! That is crazy. And you might just be right about the inbred thing!

When I was researching family history and learning about genes a while back, I learned something pretty interesting. Apparently all modern humans can be traced back to a very small group of people in Africa. Out of that group, only a small number of them actually spread out and multiplied across the world - a tiny gene pool!

When scientists studied the human genome after it was fully mapped, they found that there is much more genetic diversity in a single colony of chimpanzees that the two most unrelated people on Earth. Let that sink in! You and a pygmy person on the other side of the earth are more genetically similar than two chimps that grew up in the same jungle.

It isn't surprising that we have so many diseases and other problems; crooked teeth included...

Hi Rick: another great adventure - following you around!
About the elephant seal, I would have thought the same as you did. Some awesome chompers on that guy! Orcas are nice, they almost never eat humans, lol (just kidding - I know them from my time in Canada).
This made me think I should give our aquarium here in Vienna another look (it's been 10 years). We are not anywhere near the ocean, but a aquarium we have! It is housed in a former WWII Air defense tower, built so fortified it could not have been dismantled, i.e. blown up, without taking out the entire neighborhood, so they re-purposed it. Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo

Aquariums are a lot of fun. Of course this one was just a little tiny building, that's why I didn't really bother to show many images of the actual aquarium; it has very few actual creatures in it. I think the little building is more of an environmental awareness center more than anything else. All of the employees are volunteers, I believe!

I bet the one in Vienna is pretty awesome. I would love to visit Austria one day! Hopefully I will live long enough to see some of the amazing places I want to see.

Yeah Rick - if ever you do, give me a heads up, and we go on photo-safaris together! I'll be your local guide, so you won't waste time on some stuff that is not worth it - like: standing in line at Cafe Central in Vienna, like so many tourists do, because the travel guide tells them so, and they hang around for half hour to get in for a piece of pastry and coffee; I got places that are as good or better, and you always get a table.
BTW, I have yet to see the new rooftop terrace cafe at the Aquarium, but I know the view, since the rooftop was accessible before, and it is spectacular.
But you cannot do Vienna on a couple of days. Stay at least for a week!

Sounds awesome! I will definitely let you know. It would be great to have a guide and a friendly face!

It would definitely be at least a week. We learned or lesson on that the last time we went to Italy and didn't stay long enough.

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