Rio de Janeiro, Dec 22 (EFE).- Santa Claus put on his wetsuit Friday swim with sharks and brighten the days of children at the Rio de Janeiro aquarium, the largest in South America.
Diver Felippe Luna dresses as Santa Claus to dive in the AquaRio, the largest aquarium in Latin America, to promote the approaching Christmas holidays, today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 22 December 2023. EFE/ Antonio Lacerda
Santa Claus’ visit to the aquarium has been a Christmas tradition for several years in the tourist capital, which experiences the holidays at the beginning of the southern summer.
In his red suit and beard, Santa Claus put on his fins, oxygen tank and mask to feed and even touch the sharks and other species found in one of the tanks at the facility.
“Diving as Santa Claus is incredible. You see the sparkle in the eyes of children who are not used to seeing a Santa Claus diver in contact with animals, feeding them,” Felipe Luna, who has been playing the popular Christmas character for seven years, told EFE.
He explained that before the activity they do “training work” with the sharks to gain their trust.
“They are not the monsters they show us in the movies,” he said.
With 26,000 square meters of surface area and 4.5 million liters of water, the Rio de Janeiro aquarium is the largest in South America and houses specimens of 360 species from Brazil and around the world. EFE
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