In Times Square in New York, visitors can now dive into an underwater world and stay completely dry. The virtual exhibition shows in underground rooms National Geographic Encounter Over 5500 square meters on large screens some marine life, including humpback whales, dolphins and Humboldt squids.
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With the help of digital technology, 3D images and special effects, visitors are to be sent on an underwater journey from the South Pacific to the west coast of North America. The National Geographic exhibition, which opened this month, also includes interactive elements. Visitors can make luminescent corals glow with a wave of their hand and have virtual sea lions perform tricks.
Animal rights activists have been campaigning for several years to replace zoos and aquariums with real creatures with virtual exhibitions. Last year, the animal welfare organization PETA campaigned for a virtual reality project in which participants can swim in the sea with animated killer whales. The US amusement parks SeaWorld stopped their controversial shows and orca breeding in 2016.
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However, New York also has a real aquarium to offer – it is actually the one that has been in continuous operation for the longest Aquarium in the USA. It opened in 1896 on the southern tip of Manhattan and moved to the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn in 1941. There you can see penguins, sea otters and seals, but also sharks and manta rays.
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