CBS News Correspondent Gets the VIP Treatment at Monterey Bay Aquarium

If you are a fan of going to aquariums, you know that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best ones around. CBS News correspondent David Begnaud was given a plane ticket to a random city in California and had 48 hours to find a story nearby. He landed near the aquarium and got the VIP treatment there one morning.

CBS posted the video on Thursday, February 15th of David meeting the aquarium's program director, Natalie Hurley. They checked out the jellyfish, which he said described as mesmerizing. He got to meet some sea otters who acted as surrogate moms for orphaned pups. And the best part? He got to meet the resident octopus!

I'm jealous of all that he got to do, but especially that he got to touch the octopus who held his hand! I was surprised to hear the octopus' handler Rene say that the octopus recognized his salsa music each morning, and I wasn't the only one. @CBS News commenter @hauriello said, "I never would have guessed an octopus could actually hear things." Who knew?!

Related: Fascinating Video Shows How Aquarium Staff Weigh Their Resident Octopus

Monterey Bay Aquarium Facts

If you've never been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, add it to your bucket list! It's a world-famous aquarium that's been the subject of two PBS documentaries, as well as the set of many TV shows and movies.

More than 35,000 creatures and 550 different species live at the aquarium, including sharks (they're the first aquarium to have a great white shark!), incredibly colorful jellyfish - one of my favorite exhibits, sea turtles, and just about any other thing that swims in the ocean. More than 2 million people visit each year to see it all, and if you go, don't forget to see the jaw dropping kelp forest - it's very similar to what you'd find if you dove into the bay just outside the aquarium's doors. And speaking of the bay, the aquarium uses water pumped in from the bay in almost all of their exhibits. There's over 2.3 million gallons of water in the aquarium, too!

The aquarium also founded the Seafood Watch program, which encourages people to buy sustainable seafood from fisheries that are "well managed and caught or farmed in ways that cause little harm to habitats or other wildlife."

There are many really cool aquariums in the country (Georgia Aquarium is another cool one, and the Aquarium of the Pacific is small but really fun for kids), and I have visited many of them. All aquariums focus on educating people about the ocean and the animals that live in it, as well as conservation efforts and the importance of protecting all of these things. If you haven't visited one and are interested in the ocean and sea life, they're worth a visit!

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