Museums and religion

One area where religious dogma has encroached into science can be found in public museums:

New Orleans Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

Founded by the Audubon Institute, the Aquarium of the Americas is one of the newest and most impressive aquariums in the United States. It contains many exhibits including several large shark tanks, a re-creation of an underwater reef at a rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an Amazon rainforest exhibit and more.

Imagine my surprise when I came upon this prestigious aquarium's educational material on sharks:

As part of their "sharks in popular culture" display there was an interesting blurb about the account of Jonah from the Bible:

I'm not sure what a scientific museum is doing suggesting that the parable of Jonah and the whale is historically (or scientifically) accurate. Is there any scientific evidence to suggest a human being could survive three days inside the stomach of either a whale or a shark??

If you would like to express your thoughts on this issue, you can contact the Aquarium of the Americas via this web form or via e-mail to air@auduboninstitute.org.

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