NEAq Insider shows interviews of Aquarium staff as they work with penguins, octopus, seals and many more of the Aquarium’s most popular residents. Visitors can experience a true behind-the-scenes tour that reveals much fresh and unusual information about the animals, the staff that care for them, and the conservation work that the Aquarium does to protect the aquatic world. Among the unusual topics covered are:

• How do Aquarium’s divers sedate sharks for medical procedures?

• Does the Aquarium really have a talking seal?

• How does the animal rescue team save a sea turtle with a temperature below 50 degrees?

For those who can take the trip, NEAq Insider can go too. The full video tour can be downloaded to a mobile device at home or in the classroom prior to an Aquarium visit. The audio tour is also accessible at the Aquarium via dial-in phone numbers posted at each featured exhibit.

From the press release…

“We’re happy to bring another important layer of information and entertainment to our visitors,” said Billy Spitzer, the Aquarium’s Vice President for Programs and Exhibits. “These expanded multi-media tools offer visitors another way to better understand and enjoy the remarkable animals that they are seeing. Each of these creatures has a unique story to tell both as an individual and as an ambassador for its species. No one can tell those stories better than the Aquarium staff that care for these magnificent creatures on a daily basis.”

NEAq Insider covers 10 exhibits at the Aquarium and acts both as a microscope and a telescope. The guide draws the eye to the smallest details of an exhibit and then zooms out to give an exhibit overview and the history of the animal. Throughout the tour, the guide takes visitors behind the scenes to meet the Aquarium’s biologists in action during feeding and training sessions. It highlights fun facts and hidden gems not available during a regular visit. Bonus tracks offer a global view on environmental issues that affect that the animals, and highlight the Aquarium’s conservation efforts to better protect each species. “There is often not a clear connection between the WOW effects of looking at huge fish in a tank and understanding ocean conservation issues,” says Michael Epstein, president and CEO of Untravel Media in Boston and creator of NEAq Insider. “We hope this guide helps bring the two together.”