The American alligator, a sizable crocodilian, boasts an armored body, stout legs, a robust tail, and an elongated, rounded snout. This reptile, once on the brink of extinction, is now hailed as a conservation success story.

Welcome to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center Podcast! We record our episodes on-location at the center, located at 37 Meddin Drive, Tybee Island, Georgia.

The American alligator is native to the United States, with a habitat that stretches from North Carolina to the Rio Grande in Texas. These reptiles are commonly found in freshwater settings such as slow-moving rivers, swamps, marshes, and lakes. Due to the absence of salt glands, they can only tolerate saltwater for brief periods.

In the wild, American alligators have a lifespan of about 50 years. Once they reach a length of 4 feet, they are generally safe from predators, with the exception of humans and sometimes other alligators.

Alligators are carnivores with powerful jaws capable of breaking a turtle's shell. Their diet consists of fish, snails, other invertebrates, birds, frogs, and mammals near the water's edge. They employ their sharp teeth to grasp and secure their prey, swallowing smaller prey whole. For larger prey, they dismember it into smaller pieces by shaking, or if it's very large, they bite and spin to tear off pieces that are easier to swallow.

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Did you know that sharks have some famous relatives? Yes - they do! The skates and rays are often left with little recognition while sharks get a lot of the spotlight. But today, we are shining a light on all three.

Welcome to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center Podcast! We record our episodes on-location at the center, located at 37 Meddin Drive, Tybee Island, Georgia.

On this episode, Environmental Educator Meredith Northcott is teaching us about sharks, skates and rays. Believe it, or not - they are all closely related. They are all also species of cartilaginous fish - which basically means they have NO bones in their bodies. Their entire skeleton is made out of cartilage.

While sharks have a body shape similar to other fish, most skates and rays feature flattened, wing-like bodies that enable them to glide smoothly through the water. Although they are frequently confused with each other, subtle distinctions in their body shapes can help tell them apart. Skates have a pronounced rostrum, or a pointed snout-like structure, which gives their body an elongated triangular appearance. Typically, their bodies are more rounded, and they sport a dorsal fin at the end of their tails. Rays, in contrast, often have a diamond-shaped body with distinctly wing-like pectoral fins. The manta ray, with its remarkable 30-foot wingspan, moves through the water with a grace that seems almost supernatural.

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Welcome to the award-winning Tybee Island Marine Science Center Podcast! We record our episodes on-location at Tybee Island Marine Science Center at 37 Meddin Drive on Tybee Island.

On today's episode, Environmental Educator Alex Jones is taking us on a fascinating learning journey that focuses on Hermit Crabs and Sea Anemones.

Starting with Hermit Crabs - fun fact - they are not hermits or true crabs! These crabs utilize empty snail shells or other hollow objects for shelter, providing partial containment and protection. Lacking a hard, protective carapace, they become extremely vulnerable to predators without such a shell.

Sea anemones are soft-bodied, predominantly stationary marine creatures that resemble flowers. They inhabit all oceanic tidal zones to depths exceeding 10,000 meters (approximately 33,000 feet). Some species can also be found in brackish waters. They tend to be larger, more abundant, and more vibrant in warmer seas.

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Welcome to a world of music, science, imagination, wonder, and discovery. We are on location at Tybee Island Marine Science Center experiencing an AMAZING project called "Whales in Motion" with an organization called Sound Explorations. "Whales in Motion" is a musical and sculptural experience for the blind and low vision community.

Today, we have the pleasure of learning from our guest - Sound Explorations' Education Director Terry Wolkowicz - who has been designing innovative integrated arts educational curricula for more than two decades.

Sound Explorations' Artist, Emilie Grossman has created a series of 3-d sculpture models that illustrate the locomotion and foraging behavior of Humpback and North Atlantic Right whales based on actual whale tag data obtained by NOAA researchers in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and research from the 2018 paper, Foraging rates of ram‐filtering North Atlantic right whales authored by Julie Marie van der Hoop, Anna E. Nousek-McGregor, Douglas P. Nowacek, Susan E. Parks, Peter Tyack and Peter Teglberg Madsen.

Our visually-impaired participants today were able to run their hand across these sculpture models to perceive the whale foraging behaviors while a musician from the Savannah Philharmonic performs action-specific melodies that match the same contour and shape of the model. The musician watches closely to keep the musical contours at the same pace as the participant's hand. To say this is "moving" and "inspiring" to witness - would be an understatement. It's truly remarkable!

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Meet the North Atlantic Right Whale on today's episode. Tybee Marine Science Center Educator Lindsay McGuire is back on the podcast to teach us all the "RIGHT Whale" details.

DID YOU KNOW? Georgia’s state marine mammal, the North Atlantic right whale, the most endangered large whale species on Earth.

In late November and early December, North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), ready to calve, migrate from the cold waters of New England and Nova Scotia to the warmer Atlantic coast off Georgia and Florida. This region is the only known breeding ground for the species, where they give birth and nurture their young.

The existence of the North Atlantic right whale is perilous, with the primary causes of mortality being human-related activities such as collisions with vessels and entanglement in fishing gear.

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See the unveiling of the Right Whale Exhibit

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Allie Hayser is a Shorebird Biologist and an Educator for Manomet’s Georgia Bight Shorebird Conservation Initiative. Allie grew up on Tybee Island, Georgia. She joined Manomet’s Georgia Bight Shorebird Conservation Initiative to support and expand ongoing shorebird programs in outreach, education, and conservation. She is focused on projects that work to manage disturbance of migrating shorebirds, understanding horseshoe crab populations, education for ecotourism, and developing stewardship programs.

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We're getting out of our comfort zones and we're getting our hands INTO the TOUCH TANK! We're inside Tybee Island Marine Science Center for this episode with Executive Director Chantal Audran and Ocean Advocate Hero Liddy Clever.

Today we are touching and holding AND learning about Echinoderms. FACT ATTACK: Echinoderms are a group of animals that include starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, sea lilies and feather stars. Echinoderms are characterized by their distinctive, five-point radial symmetry, unique water vascular system, tube feet, and the ability to regenerate lost body parts.

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Meet Liddy Clever

Listen to Liddy's Podcast "Save Sea Life"

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Today we're learning everything we can about HORSESHOE CRABS! Horseshoe crabs have been around for more than 300 million years, making them even older than dinosaurs. They look like prehistoric crabs but are actually more closely related to scorpions and spiders.

Tybee Island Marine Science Center Educator Frank Wooldridge is with us on this episode to talk about these living fossils.

Some interesting facts you'll hear in this episode: The body of a horseshoe crab is divided into three parts: the prosoma, opisthosoma and telson, or tail. The prosoma is the front, semicircular part and the opisthosoma, which protects the gills, is attached to the prosoma with a hinge. The top of the shell has ridges and spines. Seven pairs of leg-like appendages are found under the shell.

Horseshoe crabs have contributed to the medical research community. A substance in their blood called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate is used to test for bacterial endotoxins in pharmaceuticals and for several bacterial diseases.

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