SuperZoo Day 2: Shark Reef

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I slammed my alarm clock off (actually I swiped to the right on my phone, because I’m a millennial and nobody my age uses a real alarm clock) but I would have slammed it if I could have. Regardless of how tired I was, I was wide awake when I remembered I was in a Las Vegas hotel room and due at the Convention Center for my first day of SuperZoo.

The first agenda item of the day was seeing the keynote speaker, Keni Thomas. Keni Thomas is a country music singer and former United States Army Ranger. During his service in the military, he and his Task Force were involved in the Battle of Mogadishu, that was later immortalized in the book and movie, Black Hawk Down. The speech he gave was a captivating and inspiring narrative of his memories from Mogadishu and how he and his fellow Rangers worked together to stay alive. Keni talked about how he was thrust into a position that he didn’t feel he was ready for, commanding a group of men that all looked to him as their leader. Most of us can probably relate to this feeling, whether it’s a new position or new responsibility at a job or being a new parent. As most of us are not on a battlefield faced with the constant threat of death, he translated what he learned in Mogudishu to how we can be successful in our businesses and personal lives. It was truly a moving speech and a motivating way to start SuperZoo.

“You are surrounded by more shark teeth than slot machines at Mandalay Bay (10,000 vs. 2,200).” -Shark Reef

Between seminars and meeting with manufacturers and vendors, I explored the trade show floor, amazed by how many people and products were there. After the show, I met up with Renee, our Pet expert here at Jeffers, and Dawn from Thomas Labs, to go to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Walking in I felt like I was in an ancient Aztec temple, surrounded by rare and dangerous animals like komodo dragons, crocodiles, piranhas, sharks, sawfish, stringrays and a bunch of other animals that could kill me if I had been on the other side of the glass. Part of what was so special about Shark Reef was that we were underwater, walking through acrylic tunnels as we moved on to the next breathtaking exhibit. In these tunnels, we were completely surrounded by water, even the floor was clear, so that we could see every animal that happened to swim by, up close and personal. Sitting there and watching them go by, I started to get the feeling that some of the animals really enjoyed the attention, taking laps around us constantly, almost smiling for the cameras.

“Shark Reef Aquarium is comprised of nearly 1.6 million gallons of water.”

Rare and dangerous aquatic animals swam around us in an exhibit designed to look like an underwater shipwreck. I tried to tune out the screaming kids running around me, and cameras pointing past me to get the perfect shot of a shark swimming by. I was in awe by their beauty and grace and how the slightest flicker of a fin could alter their route in the water. I probably could have sat there in that tunnel all night, just watching some of the most amazing creatures on this planet swim around me. It had been an amazing end to Day 2 of SuperZoo, and I couldn’t wait to wake up and do it all over again!