Beep, Beep, Beep goes the alarm at 5:45 in the morning but I’m already up. It’s always the way; if you set the alarm you wake up beforehand and if you don’t, you sleep right through. Normally on holiday, save for the first few days as jet lag unwinds, there is no such thing as 5:45 in the morning but today is different. It’s a 6:30 start for Sea World’s Marine Mammal Keeper Experience. Strategically placed in the Hilton Garden Inn across the road, it’s a short walk in the dark to the edge of Sea World’s main car park, then a much longer one through two others to reach the employee entrance. I’m still early so I sit in the security office chatting to the security men, a steady stream of employees swiping their way though to the tune of “Have a good one”. As 6:30 approaches no other bleary eyed guests have appeared so when Nick, a Sea World Zoologist, shows up it seems I’m the only one on the tour today. We jump on a buggy for a drive though the park. So nice to speed along the empty paths that later will be filled with guests trudging through the scorching sun.
The first behind the scenes stop is a look at the holding and quarantine pools. Often it is necessary to move an animal into shallow water for inspection and treatment. Draining a pool or getting an animal into a sling is a lot of work so some pools have a false, slatted floor that can be gently raised to bring the animal safety to the surface and give access. I watch as a Manatee is given its first bottle of the day. Lettuce floats on the surface as Manatees are vegetarians. This apparently results in a certain amount of internal gas which can affect their buoyancy so their feed and medication is adjusted as required to alleviate the worst effects. Manatees are related to elephants and you can see that their nose does resemble the end of an elephant’s trunk. They certainly “Hoover” up plenty of food with it. Nick explains Sea World’s and other organisation’s role in rescuing marine animals in distress. They are on call to treat in situ or, if necessary, capture injured animals and bring them back for treatment. There are many rules and regulations about what can be done. The law says animals should be returned to the wild after treatment but there is pressure for change since some animals, even after treatment, might not be fully able to look after themselves when released. Animals are often tracked after release; not the tiny microchip you get in domestic pets but very large looking transmitter buoys.
Next is a quick visit to a dolphin holding pool for a game of catch; throwing one of the many plastic toys which the dolphin likes to return. This dolphin has been separated because she is being sent to Berlin. Many of the dolphins in the park are related so moving dolphins between institutions helps with the “gene pool”. Later I would see the rig used for transporting the dolphin; a sling arrangement in a water tank. Keepers accompany the dolphin to ensure that it stays the right way up. The water is necessary to help support the dolphin as they are unable to support themselves on dry land for long periods. This is the reason many beached animals come to grief. If they do no get back into the water they “collapse” under their own weight. There are also cages for seals and sea lions. These have to be big enough to allow the animal to turn around but not too big that they can injure themselves.
Next comes the first big decision of the day; what sandwich filling would I like for lunch. Then it’s a quick buggy ride to the changing rooms by Wild Arctic to squeeze into a wetsuit before returning to the pools where there is a dolphin suffering from a bronchial condition. The keepers have a nebuliser type contraption, built from the plastic tubes pet mice run around in, to treat it. I accompany the keepers into the water and watch while they use a net to separate the dolphin from the others and maneuver it onto a foam mat in a shallow part of the pool. The dolphin has become used to this and remains fairly still. Four keepers steady him by keeping their bodies touching the dolphin. This means if the he does thrash about the motion would simply push them away rather than crashing into them. They constantly reassure the dolphin and I join in, gently splashing water over it. The “mouthpiece” of the nebuliser of course goes over the dolphin’s blowhole. After around 10 minutes a final injection is given and the job’s done for another day.
Taking samples is a common occurrence as the health of the animals is constantly monitored. This can be simplified by training the animals to give voluntary samples. They are taught to lie still while the vets find a vein for a blood test and even “peeing” on demand to provide a urine sample. Imagine what would happen if the wrong signal was given during the Shamu show; it gives a whole new meaning to the term “splash zone”. By this time there’s a heavy early morning downpour but for once I don’t mind – I couldn’t get much wetter anyway. A large delivery of lettuce cartons (for the manatees), however, is getting wet so we see it safely into one of the large chilled store rooms.
We then visit the main dolphin pool in the park (still too early for visitors) for feeding time. The office is full of boards and paperwork giving the dietary requirements of each dolphin and recording how much food they eat. Various buckets of fish are produced. If medication is required these are pushed inside a fish. The pectoral fins are removed so the trainers can see which are the medicinal fish in the bucket, and then the dolphins are called over for the grub. The fish supplied to guests during the day to feed the dolphins are just snacks but whether or not a particular dolphin eats them is still monitored as a lack of appetite might indicate a problem.
Next there comes news that an otter may have given birth overnight. Apparently its very difficult to tell if they are pregnant. A tentative peak inside the hutch shows a small grey bundle nesting up to mum and a proud father stalking the neighborhood. Just the one it seems but there is some debate whether another might follow that night; it’s happened before.
Back at a holding pool there’s a 2 month old baby manatee. Its weight has to be checked each day to make sure is growing properly so it's into the water again. The keepers nudge it into a sling and I get to help lift it from the pool. The sling is then hung from a mobile scale and the details recorded then it's gently returned to the pool. Cute or what?
Nearby is one of the boats used for rescuing animals at sea. It is unconventional with the motor at the front, making handling tricky, so that the stern with its removable panel it left free. Inside is a large net that can be let out. The net unfolds very quickly so staff are taught to grip it with their fists rather than fingers since anything getting caught in the net would be dragged out of the boat too.
Off to the food preparation area to make up a bottle for one of the manatees. We mix up the required recipe similar to powdered baby milk with various supplements etc in carefully measured quantities specific to each animal and whisk it all up. All the preparation area then has to be washed down immediately. Hygiene is very important with such areas generally being stainless steel and cleaned several times every day. The freezer store contains boxes of fish etc which can be stored up to a year. Next door is chilled room where the prepared fish is kept for each animal. A team comes in at 2 am to distribute the fish and then prepare the next day’s portions. Here fish can only be kept for 3 days. I asked whether, after 3 days, the unused fish is then served to guests in the restaurants but apparently not, it’s disposed of.
We pass by the various labs and medical facilities where 3 full time vets and their staff treat the animals, test the water several times a day etc. There is x-ray and ultrasound equipment, though its tough getting through all the blubber. The water is carefully monitored and salinity levels etc adjusted to meet the needs of the different animals. They will also be responsible for the animals at the new Aquatica Water Park. Necropsies are also performed here since it is important to know what may have caused an animal’s death.
Now it’s back to the main dolphin pool. The park is open by now so we walk through the public areas hoping no-one thinks I work there and starts asking awkward questions about the mating habits of jellyfish or the whereabouts of the nearest restroom. One of the trainers takes me in the back way to the pool and we step across a large flat metal plate (actually a scale for weighing the dolphins) and sit on a ledge, feet dangling in the water. A succession of dolphins is sent across under the control a various hand-signals and a high pitch whistle. Of course I get squirted and there are lots of photo opportunities. Needless to say a Sea World photographer is present but who knows on how many people’s holiday snaps you get immortalised in doing this. We give signals to the dolphins and they do their tricks. Correct behavior is rewarded by a fish. At one point a dolphin did clamp his teeth, albeit gently, around my foot so that was considered “incorrect behavior” so no fish that time. Then I meet some more staff who take me down to the public underwater viewing area complete with basketballs. Tapping these on the glass brings the Dolphins swimming over, fascinated by the rhythm. The keeper then bounces the ball back and forwards to a girl in the audience and the dolphins follow its path back and forth as if watching an aquatic tennis match.
Atlantis had been closed a few days earlier when we visited. They called it a technical problem which looked very much like a large crane removing one of the rails. I had mentioned this in passing earlier in the day so when Nick returned he said we could sneak on now. The ride does warn people they may get wet. Just how wet may have been going through the minds of the guests in the boat behind us as two guys in full wetsuits climbed aboard. Next was a restroom break which of necessity takes somewhat longer than normal; definitely not a time to get a zip stuck.
Another buggy trip back towards Wild Arctic and we pass the rear side of Kraken. The metal support legs are actually filled with sand to dampen the mechanical noise made by the ride so as not to disturb the nearby Pacific Point Preserve area, although it can’t mask the screams. We pass large filtration systems. Different areas, Wild Artic, Shamu etc, have then own systems. A large reservoir is behind Kraken, which had to be moved when Atlantis was added and then again for Kraken. Water from, say, Shamu stadium could be piped here if it ever needed draining. Any excess seawater from the park would have to be desalinated before it could be pumped into any public system. Then it’s on to Wild Arctic as its time to get close to the Beluga Whales. I meet one of the trainers and we enter the habitat over the small wooden bridge onto the “ice shelf” where you see the whales after exiting the simulator ride. Fortunately you don’t get fully into the water as it’s incredibly cold but there’s plenty of interaction and, yes, more fish feeding (and photos).
Finally its lunch time so it’s a hot shower and back into street clothes, a water proof jacket at the ready as the sky looks a little threatening. Lunch is an enormous ham and cheese deli sandwich in the staff canteen. This was previously one of the park restaurants and one of the few remaining original structures from when the park first opened. Since staff members are generally in some sort of uniform it's easy to see each group flocking together at the tables. Suitably refreshed it’s off to the sea lion pens at the rear of Clyde and Seamore show. Having just got clean it's more handfuls of fish. The technique is to grip the tail of the fish in your fist and drop them down into the expectant jaws. The animals tend to swallow fish head first to avoid the scales catching. Some of the animals' eyes appear milky white. It seems marine mammals, having no eyelids, secrete oily mucus to stop the cornea drying out. The sea lions are also prone to cataracts and one I saw was scheduled for corrective surgery. Here too metal scales are imbedded in the floor. We then go round front to the public side of the pool armed with two buckets of fish. Donning the waterproof jacket as precaution I am encouraged to heave fists full of fish into the pool producing a splashing stampede of sea lions leaping up for the goodies. Great fun. At some point, however, a fish scale managed to find its way under a finger nail. No pain but tricky to get out but a slight detour to the first aid room where some head scratching produced tweezers and a magnifying glass. A bit of digging and the job was done.
We stop by the dolphin nursery pool in the park. In the wild many baby dolphins don’t live past six months. This is not such a problem in the parks but even so the superstitious keepers wait six months before naming the dolphins. The pool also holds an “Auntie” dolphin which takes some of the pressure off the new mothers. Then it’s the manatee pool. Nick calls to them and four massive hulks glide through the water to claim their “dog biscuit” looking snacks, sucked from our hands.
At Wild Arctic again we meet some more of the seals and sea lions. The seals are natural performers; just they way the waddle along on their flippers is fun. Then another keeper takes me to the rear of the Polar Bear habitat. This is a strictly zero contact visit. A huge bear “Johnny” lies safely snoozing behind the glass but the cuddly appearance belies a fast and very powerful beast. The keeper shows me an industrial strength plastic drum that he used as a toy; squashed like a paper cup, but also tells of watching him use his claws to carefully peel the skin off a melon before eating the inside. They can smell food through the ice too. Food can be dropped from above into the pens and they have even trained the bears to move towards the spot of light from a laser pointer as a way of moving them around the habitat.
Then it’s off to meet the walruses. The bars separating the various areas are wide enough for someone to step through, complete with bucket of fish, but plenty close enough to prevent the passage of the occupants. We reach a set of bars which look into the back of a cave leading onto the public area. The keeper calls for the walruses. Instantly the air is filled with their far from delicate voices. Then monstrous shadows appear on the cave wall like some old 50s monster B-movie but then two of the sloppiest, albeit huge, creatures come sliding into view. Poking their noses through the bars they respond to the keeper’s instructions. Their long teeth are used to pull themselves up onto the ice. Unlike the whistles and hand signals of the dolphins, these respond to verbal instructions. The keeper recons they are the smartest of all the animals. Lots of fish swallowing and hand kissing follows before I give the command “water” to send then gliding back into the pool.
After another hand wash, with what looks like industrial strength soap, its time to be driven back to the entrance to see what photos had been snapped (bought the CD). After 8 hours everything’s a blur and I’m not convinced the above is strictly in the original order. So a big thumbs up to Nick and all the keepers who helped make it such a wonderful experience.
The first behind the scenes stop is a look at the holding and quarantine pools. Often it is necessary to move an animal into shallow water for inspection and treatment. Draining a pool or getting an animal into a sling is a lot of work so some pools have a false, slatted floor that can be gently raised to bring the animal safety to the surface and give access. I watch as a Manatee is given its first bottle of the day. Lettuce floats on the surface as Manatees are vegetarians. This apparently results in a certain amount of internal gas which can affect their buoyancy so their feed and medication is adjusted as required to alleviate the worst effects. Manatees are related to elephants and you can see that their nose does resemble the end of an elephant’s trunk. They certainly “Hoover” up plenty of food with it. Nick explains Sea World’s and other organisation’s role in rescuing marine animals in distress. They are on call to treat in situ or, if necessary, capture injured animals and bring them back for treatment. There are many rules and regulations about what can be done. The law says animals should be returned to the wild after treatment but there is pressure for change since some animals, even after treatment, might not be fully able to look after themselves when released. Animals are often tracked after release; not the tiny microchip you get in domestic pets but very large looking transmitter buoys.
Next is a quick visit to a dolphin holding pool for a game of catch; throwing one of the many plastic toys which the dolphin likes to return. This dolphin has been separated because she is being sent to Berlin. Many of the dolphins in the park are related so moving dolphins between institutions helps with the “gene pool”. Later I would see the rig used for transporting the dolphin; a sling arrangement in a water tank. Keepers accompany the dolphin to ensure that it stays the right way up. The water is necessary to help support the dolphin as they are unable to support themselves on dry land for long periods. This is the reason many beached animals come to grief. If they do no get back into the water they “collapse” under their own weight. There are also cages for seals and sea lions. These have to be big enough to allow the animal to turn around but not too big that they can injure themselves.
Next comes the first big decision of the day; what sandwich filling would I like for lunch. Then it’s a quick buggy ride to the changing rooms by Wild Arctic to squeeze into a wetsuit before returning to the pools where there is a dolphin suffering from a bronchial condition. The keepers have a nebuliser type contraption, built from the plastic tubes pet mice run around in, to treat it. I accompany the keepers into the water and watch while they use a net to separate the dolphin from the others and maneuver it onto a foam mat in a shallow part of the pool. The dolphin has become used to this and remains fairly still. Four keepers steady him by keeping their bodies touching the dolphin. This means if the he does thrash about the motion would simply push them away rather than crashing into them. They constantly reassure the dolphin and I join in, gently splashing water over it. The “mouthpiece” of the nebuliser of course goes over the dolphin’s blowhole. After around 10 minutes a final injection is given and the job’s done for another day.
Taking samples is a common occurrence as the health of the animals is constantly monitored. This can be simplified by training the animals to give voluntary samples. They are taught to lie still while the vets find a vein for a blood test and even “peeing” on demand to provide a urine sample. Imagine what would happen if the wrong signal was given during the Shamu show; it gives a whole new meaning to the term “splash zone”. By this time there’s a heavy early morning downpour but for once I don’t mind – I couldn’t get much wetter anyway. A large delivery of lettuce cartons (for the manatees), however, is getting wet so we see it safely into one of the large chilled store rooms.
We then visit the main dolphin pool in the park (still too early for visitors) for feeding time. The office is full of boards and paperwork giving the dietary requirements of each dolphin and recording how much food they eat. Various buckets of fish are produced. If medication is required these are pushed inside a fish. The pectoral fins are removed so the trainers can see which are the medicinal fish in the bucket, and then the dolphins are called over for the grub. The fish supplied to guests during the day to feed the dolphins are just snacks but whether or not a particular dolphin eats them is still monitored as a lack of appetite might indicate a problem.
Next there comes news that an otter may have given birth overnight. Apparently its very difficult to tell if they are pregnant. A tentative peak inside the hutch shows a small grey bundle nesting up to mum and a proud father stalking the neighborhood. Just the one it seems but there is some debate whether another might follow that night; it’s happened before.
Back at a holding pool there’s a 2 month old baby manatee. Its weight has to be checked each day to make sure is growing properly so it's into the water again. The keepers nudge it into a sling and I get to help lift it from the pool. The sling is then hung from a mobile scale and the details recorded then it's gently returned to the pool. Cute or what?
Nearby is one of the boats used for rescuing animals at sea. It is unconventional with the motor at the front, making handling tricky, so that the stern with its removable panel it left free. Inside is a large net that can be let out. The net unfolds very quickly so staff are taught to grip it with their fists rather than fingers since anything getting caught in the net would be dragged out of the boat too.
Off to the food preparation area to make up a bottle for one of the manatees. We mix up the required recipe similar to powdered baby milk with various supplements etc in carefully measured quantities specific to each animal and whisk it all up. All the preparation area then has to be washed down immediately. Hygiene is very important with such areas generally being stainless steel and cleaned several times every day. The freezer store contains boxes of fish etc which can be stored up to a year. Next door is chilled room where the prepared fish is kept for each animal. A team comes in at 2 am to distribute the fish and then prepare the next day’s portions. Here fish can only be kept for 3 days. I asked whether, after 3 days, the unused fish is then served to guests in the restaurants but apparently not, it’s disposed of.
We pass by the various labs and medical facilities where 3 full time vets and their staff treat the animals, test the water several times a day etc. There is x-ray and ultrasound equipment, though its tough getting through all the blubber. The water is carefully monitored and salinity levels etc adjusted to meet the needs of the different animals. They will also be responsible for the animals at the new Aquatica Water Park. Necropsies are also performed here since it is important to know what may have caused an animal’s death.
Now it’s back to the main dolphin pool. The park is open by now so we walk through the public areas hoping no-one thinks I work there and starts asking awkward questions about the mating habits of jellyfish or the whereabouts of the nearest restroom. One of the trainers takes me in the back way to the pool and we step across a large flat metal plate (actually a scale for weighing the dolphins) and sit on a ledge, feet dangling in the water. A succession of dolphins is sent across under the control a various hand-signals and a high pitch whistle. Of course I get squirted and there are lots of photo opportunities. Needless to say a Sea World photographer is present but who knows on how many people’s holiday snaps you get immortalised in doing this. We give signals to the dolphins and they do their tricks. Correct behavior is rewarded by a fish. At one point a dolphin did clamp his teeth, albeit gently, around my foot so that was considered “incorrect behavior” so no fish that time. Then I meet some more staff who take me down to the public underwater viewing area complete with basketballs. Tapping these on the glass brings the Dolphins swimming over, fascinated by the rhythm. The keeper then bounces the ball back and forwards to a girl in the audience and the dolphins follow its path back and forth as if watching an aquatic tennis match.
Atlantis had been closed a few days earlier when we visited. They called it a technical problem which looked very much like a large crane removing one of the rails. I had mentioned this in passing earlier in the day so when Nick returned he said we could sneak on now. The ride does warn people they may get wet. Just how wet may have been going through the minds of the guests in the boat behind us as two guys in full wetsuits climbed aboard. Next was a restroom break which of necessity takes somewhat longer than normal; definitely not a time to get a zip stuck.
Another buggy trip back towards Wild Arctic and we pass the rear side of Kraken. The metal support legs are actually filled with sand to dampen the mechanical noise made by the ride so as not to disturb the nearby Pacific Point Preserve area, although it can’t mask the screams. We pass large filtration systems. Different areas, Wild Artic, Shamu etc, have then own systems. A large reservoir is behind Kraken, which had to be moved when Atlantis was added and then again for Kraken. Water from, say, Shamu stadium could be piped here if it ever needed draining. Any excess seawater from the park would have to be desalinated before it could be pumped into any public system. Then it’s on to Wild Arctic as its time to get close to the Beluga Whales. I meet one of the trainers and we enter the habitat over the small wooden bridge onto the “ice shelf” where you see the whales after exiting the simulator ride. Fortunately you don’t get fully into the water as it’s incredibly cold but there’s plenty of interaction and, yes, more fish feeding (and photos).
Finally its lunch time so it’s a hot shower and back into street clothes, a water proof jacket at the ready as the sky looks a little threatening. Lunch is an enormous ham and cheese deli sandwich in the staff canteen. This was previously one of the park restaurants and one of the few remaining original structures from when the park first opened. Since staff members are generally in some sort of uniform it's easy to see each group flocking together at the tables. Suitably refreshed it’s off to the sea lion pens at the rear of Clyde and Seamore show. Having just got clean it's more handfuls of fish. The technique is to grip the tail of the fish in your fist and drop them down into the expectant jaws. The animals tend to swallow fish head first to avoid the scales catching. Some of the animals' eyes appear milky white. It seems marine mammals, having no eyelids, secrete oily mucus to stop the cornea drying out. The sea lions are also prone to cataracts and one I saw was scheduled for corrective surgery. Here too metal scales are imbedded in the floor. We then go round front to the public side of the pool armed with two buckets of fish. Donning the waterproof jacket as precaution I am encouraged to heave fists full of fish into the pool producing a splashing stampede of sea lions leaping up for the goodies. Great fun. At some point, however, a fish scale managed to find its way under a finger nail. No pain but tricky to get out but a slight detour to the first aid room where some head scratching produced tweezers and a magnifying glass. A bit of digging and the job was done.
We stop by the dolphin nursery pool in the park. In the wild many baby dolphins don’t live past six months. This is not such a problem in the parks but even so the superstitious keepers wait six months before naming the dolphins. The pool also holds an “Auntie” dolphin which takes some of the pressure off the new mothers. Then it’s the manatee pool. Nick calls to them and four massive hulks glide through the water to claim their “dog biscuit” looking snacks, sucked from our hands.
At Wild Arctic again we meet some more of the seals and sea lions. The seals are natural performers; just they way the waddle along on their flippers is fun. Then another keeper takes me to the rear of the Polar Bear habitat. This is a strictly zero contact visit. A huge bear “Johnny” lies safely snoozing behind the glass but the cuddly appearance belies a fast and very powerful beast. The keeper shows me an industrial strength plastic drum that he used as a toy; squashed like a paper cup, but also tells of watching him use his claws to carefully peel the skin off a melon before eating the inside. They can smell food through the ice too. Food can be dropped from above into the pens and they have even trained the bears to move towards the spot of light from a laser pointer as a way of moving them around the habitat.
Then it’s off to meet the walruses. The bars separating the various areas are wide enough for someone to step through, complete with bucket of fish, but plenty close enough to prevent the passage of the occupants. We reach a set of bars which look into the back of a cave leading onto the public area. The keeper calls for the walruses. Instantly the air is filled with their far from delicate voices. Then monstrous shadows appear on the cave wall like some old 50s monster B-movie but then two of the sloppiest, albeit huge, creatures come sliding into view. Poking their noses through the bars they respond to the keeper’s instructions. Their long teeth are used to pull themselves up onto the ice. Unlike the whistles and hand signals of the dolphins, these respond to verbal instructions. The keeper recons they are the smartest of all the animals. Lots of fish swallowing and hand kissing follows before I give the command “water” to send then gliding back into the pool.
After another hand wash, with what looks like industrial strength soap, its time to be driven back to the entrance to see what photos had been snapped (bought the CD). After 8 hours everything’s a blur and I’m not convinced the above is strictly in the original order. So a big thumbs up to Nick and all the keepers who helped make it such a wonderful experience.
