Zoo Tours: Clearwater Marine Aquarium | Full Tour | PART ONE

EPISODE 128

We didn't just add a new facility to the channel, we added our very first institution dedicated to research and rescue. Though the Clearwater Marine Aquarium rose to international fame thank to the beloved film, Dolphin Tale, staff at the CMA has actually been changing lives since 1972. Since then, their uncompromising model has been RESCUE. REHABILITATION. RELEASE. So don't expect to see your typical aquarium, expect to see sick and injured wildlife who were given a second and sometimes third chance at life and in turn, expect to be inspired! This episode explores the CMA's first half and personally shares the sad but triumphant stories of the aquarium's world famous bottlenose dolphins, equally charismatic otters, sea turtles, pelicans, and of course, this episode closes out with a tribute to Winter the dolphin.

Enjoy!

Meet the CMA residents that are in this video!

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[ZooTours]

*Want to know what the animals at the CMA are up to? The aquarium has a LIVE webcam for every major resident!*

[ClearwaterAquarium]

Thanks so much for showing your audience Clearwater Marine Aquarium!

[primmoore]

My daughter, who works at CMA, confirms your identification of the otters. It's tricky to tell the boys apart. Congrats!
What a wonderful video tour. Thank you!
My favorite story is *Winter's, * of course. She is an example of overcoming seemingly impossible odds! 🥰🐬She lived sixteen amazing years, inspiring many people with disabilities.
And about Nicholas predicting winning teams, he's been wrong more than once lately. This year, he picked the Chiefs again. We'll see.

[TheGamingTigerKing]

That was Beautiful, it made me even cry😢, I am very glad along with winter the dolphins were brought to the aquarium to get a second chance.

[kibawolflve]

winter story is so inspiring. i can’t believe it been a year

[TheRandomZooVisitor]

That new manatee area looks nice, hope they add a memorial plaque for Winter.

[anderthingsss]

This video is amazing! Answering the question, my favorite rescue story definitely has to be J.J. The gray whale that SeaWorld San Diego rescued and released. J.J.’s story is just too beautiful. Keep up the great work!

[ilikeminecraftgaming]

I loved this tour!Got to meet Winter and Hope twice, once in 2016 and 2019, also one quick correction, Winter’s tale wasn’t amputated, it fell off as old skin started dying, and what eventually remained was her peduncle.

[TheCreatureChronicles]

Man, this tour was very moving! I'm glad I got to learn so much about the dolphins that calls Clearwater home, including Winter. I can't wait to see what the next leg of the tour will offer us!

[platinumtidal]

It’s very nice to see how this place looks more recently, I visited before they built the new dolphin home so I did get to see Winter, excited to see if the rest of the place looks how it was when I visited years back

[razaabbas]

I how that this is going to be hard but can you please do a video at the Bronx Zoo because it had such great biodiversity all around and within it and maybe you go it's monorail of Wild Asia and tell us about "Happy the Elephant", please!

[tommyevans]

I am a volunteer at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, I work on a boat call the Sea Life safari. We go out and throw a giant net in and collect animals species for to collect base line data and teach people about the animals that call ocean home.

[rjshea]

Such a good video! Keep up the amazing content!

[Motherofdragons]

Not gonna lie, I was honestly expecting a negative review of CMA because it's not your typical aquarium and I see tons of those, but if anything people should watch this video when they start making negative comments! Thank you for sharing the animals rescue stories! I love CMA and I donate as often as I can. I absolutely love that you saved the best for last, even though it made me cry a little! My favorite rescue story is and always will be Winter! I've been to CMA twice since her passing and if you know Winter you know she was an extreme attention hog! She would do anything and everything to get attention including doing her tweety bird whistle very loudly! That's one of my favorite things about her and it's entirely too quiet in the aquarium! I got to make Winter and Hope in October 2016 and I'm not even kidding when I say you could hear her from just about anywhere in the aquarium! One of the staff members told me sometimes she's working in the offices and she could hear Winter! They have her vocalizations playing on a speaker from time to time, and by the underwater viewing windows there are vocalization buttons you can push and one of them is Winter. Winter and PJ were very close, and the staff told me PJ seemed to be grieving her best friend. She would take a frisbee and suction it to her belly and carry it around with her like a little security blanket. I'm not sure how Hope reacted, but I went a couple weeks after winter passed away and something definitely felt off. Both girls did seem a little lethargic and it made me so sad! I just wanted to give them hugs! I was hoping to meet PJ because we are both blind, but I figured I couldn't because she and Hope were still grieving the loss of Winter so I didn't even ask. I did get to meet Nicolas and oh my goodness it was amazing!!!! one thing I love about CMA is they welcome people with disabilities with open arms, just like their patients! If you know Nicolas you can't leave an encounter or presentation with him without getting soaked! Sadly when I went it wasn't super hot so I was very cold afterwards, but it was 100% worth it! When I met Hope in 2016, she was very engaged with me and so was Nicholas! When I had to leave the poolside, Nicolas was looking right at me and wouldn't stop vocalizing! His care provider said he wants me to come back! He's going to celebrate his 21st rescue anniversary on December 24! I can't wait for part two! 😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️🐬🐬🐬

[EthanBeeman]

winters rescue story is something else she was one of the toughest dolphins i have ever seen and i miss her like the whole world does but with tragedy comes new journeys like apollo and izzy and the other recent rescued animals also me and nick share the same birth and rescue month only a day apart of each other

[markjazyk]

My favorite rescue animal is Rose the Manatee. She was deemed unable to be released into the wild, and spent most of her life in human care being a foster mother to several orphan manatee calves that were later released to the wild. She also had several calves of her own, contributing to the population

[shimonofbirdsandsupermariofan]

Also, fun fact I went to this place back in July 2021

[angelhogle]

I love the story of winter the dolphin I have both dolphin tale 1 and dolphin tale 2 on dvd and I love both of them so very much

[justingaines]

You’re videos are beautiful and inspiring man keep up the good work

[Landon_Eats_Electrical_Wire]

Always a good day when Zoo Tours post.