dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
All dolphins are trained in so called husbandry behaviours. They are all things that make medical examinations easier and include swallowing a tube for a gastric sample, sliding out on a scale, giving urine samples and presenting the tail fluke and holding still so that blood samples can be taken. Unless the behaviours that are used in interactions, the husbandry behaviours are not based on natural behaviours and therefore need to be practised regularly. It is also important that the dolphins are willing to do those for total strangers that know the signals just in case that there is an emergency and outside help needs to be sought. Therefore our first task of this session was to get Ko to roll over and present his tail fluke and stay there until we signalled that he was OK to turn over again. He had to do this for each of us. As his reward for co-operating, he then got some play time. We each got to choose a "toy" that he likes and had some quality time with him. I had chosen a ring that he caught out of the air when I threw it and then brought back to me to throw again. The other two had chosen a buoy, which worked in a similar way, but he actually threw this back, and a soft brush to brush him down with.
Our play time was ended when they had to move the dolphins around between two interactions. We headed to the office to look at the record keeping. They have a huge notice board in the office with photos of all the dolphins. Record keeping is even more important here as each dolphin has a dedicated trainer and the dolphin and the trainer have a one on one relationship. They only ever work with another trainer when the primary trainer is on days off, on leave or off sick. For that purpose, each trainer has a secondary dolphin that they also know pretty well and they will take over when the primary trainer is not around. This was a very different way of doing things. Because of this, they keep very extensive records. Apart from any medical observations, food intake and activities, they also include information like relationships with the other dolphins and any unusual behaviour. The records are still hand-written so a huge amount of time goes into this.
Next up was the fish house. On the way there, we passed the filtration plant. The water comes from the bay and has to be filtered and sanitized before it is fed into the pools. The fish house was much the same as the ones that I have come across at Seaworld and Discovery Cove. It consists of three areas: a walk in freezer, a walk in fridge and a preparation area with a huge dry wipe board that lists all the dolphins and the breakdown of the food they are getting every day. What was a new concept was that the dolphins get different kind of fish depending of the season. For instance they are only getting Mackerel during the winter months.
There was a little silliness in the fish house. One of the other trainers, who was cleaning the fish buckets, sprayed our trainer with the water hose. She retaliated by getting some ice from the ice machine and put it down the back of the other trainer.
Once this was settled, we got a quick lesson in food quality. I know that dolphins are fed restaurant quality fish and that any fish that are not whole are discarded. They are going one step further at Cabo. Any fish that has any blemishes gets discarded. We were told that infection can get in through even the smallest nicks and imperfections and that this could have a negative effect on the health of the dolphin.
After the photographer took some silly photos of us in the fish house, we headed back upstairs. We took the buckets for the next interaction with us and deposited them in the fridge near the pool.
Our play time was ended when they had to move the dolphins around between two interactions. We headed to the office to look at the record keeping. They have a huge notice board in the office with photos of all the dolphins. Record keeping is even more important here as each dolphin has a dedicated trainer and the dolphin and the trainer have a one on one relationship. They only ever work with another trainer when the primary trainer is on days off, on leave or off sick. For that purpose, each trainer has a secondary dolphin that they also know pretty well and they will take over when the primary trainer is not around. This was a very different way of doing things. Because of this, they keep very extensive records. Apart from any medical observations, food intake and activities, they also include information like relationships with the other dolphins and any unusual behaviour. The records are still hand-written so a huge amount of time goes into this.
Next up was the fish house. On the way there, we passed the filtration plant. The water comes from the bay and has to be filtered and sanitized before it is fed into the pools. The fish house was much the same as the ones that I have come across at Seaworld and Discovery Cove. It consists of three areas: a walk in freezer, a walk in fridge and a preparation area with a huge dry wipe board that lists all the dolphins and the breakdown of the food they are getting every day. What was a new concept was that the dolphins get different kind of fish depending of the season. For instance they are only getting Mackerel during the winter months.
There was a little silliness in the fish house. One of the other trainers, who was cleaning the fish buckets, sprayed our trainer with the water hose. She retaliated by getting some ice from the ice machine and put it down the back of the other trainer.
Once this was settled, we got a quick lesson in food quality. I know that dolphins are fed restaurant quality fish and that any fish that are not whole are discarded. They are going one step further at Cabo. Any fish that has any blemishes gets discarded. We were told that infection can get in through even the smallest nicks and imperfections and that this could have a negative effect on the health of the dolphin.
After the photographer took some silly photos of us in the fish house, we headed back upstairs. We took the buckets for the next interaction with us and deposited them in the fridge near the pool.