A popular aquarium in the UK Midlands has scheduled a series of visitor events to mark a milestone birthday.
National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham is running events to drive family attendance during the May half-term period while highlighting the venue’s animal welfare and conservation work.
The celebrations focus on Mo, a sea turtle known as the ‘King of the Ocean Tunnel’, who reached the age of 50 on World Turtle Day, 23 May 2026. The aquarium is launching an interactive activity trail running until 11 June, including turtle-themed educational talks, interactive games in a dedicated party room, a birthday disco, and a guest card-signing station.
To incentivise attendance on the launch day, the attraction offered free entry to children under the age of 12 who shared their birthday with World Turtle Day. Standard advance online ticket pricing for the event period starts from £19, with cross-promotional multi-attraction tickets available providing up to a 43 per cent discount for other regional Merlin Entertainments venues within a 90-day window.
Husbandry management
To mark the occasion, the venue’s in-house team of animal care specialists has prepared a specialised food-based enrichment item structured as a birthday cake. The creation consists entirely of Mo’s regular herbivorous diet, incorporating ingredients such as carrots, kale, broccoli, and cabbage.
According to the attraction’s husbandry protocols, the vegetable structure serves as a method of behavioural enrichment, designed to stimulate natural foraging patterns and environmental exploration. The daily care routine for the senior sea turtle involves ongoing health observations, including tracking swimming mechanics, appetite levels, and general behaviour patterns to maintain consistent habitat conditions.
Conservation and rescue history
Mo has been a permanent resident at the Birmingham site since 2006. His presence at the aquarium followed a rescue operation at Heathrow Airport, where border authorities discovered him being illegally smuggled into the United Kingdom inside a handbag. The aquarium utilises its background as an educational tool to inform the public about the broader challenges facing marine species, life cycle stages, and habitat preservation.
Leah Todd, an animal care specialist who has worked at National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham for nine years, noted the turtle’s prominent role within the ocean display. “Mo is a big character, calm, confident, and very much aware that he’s the star of the Ocean Tunnel. He’s a firm favourite amongst guests, with many coming back year on year to see him. He loves snoozing under the tunnel and scratching his belly on the corals.
“He’s definitely been getting into the birthday spirit, and we cannot wait to welcome guests to what is set to be a brilliant birthday celebration this May half-term.”
The Birmingham aquarium operates as part of the wider SEA LIFE brand, which represents the largest global family of aquariums with approximately 20 million annual visitors across 50 locations and two sanctuaries. The global network, operated by Merlin Entertainments, manages the care of more than 180,000 marine creatures. Conservation efforts are coordinated alongside the SEA LIFE TRUST, a registered charity that operates marine wildlife sanctuaries, including a Beluga Whale Sanctuary in Iceland, alongside global research, habitat restoration, and public education programmes.
