Day Four - March 26

(Sea) Lions and Signals, and Dolphins - Oh My!

Today was our fourth day of our Dolphin Lab experience. We started our day with saying good morning to the dolphins, as we always do, followed by a seminar on the "stranding" of marine mammals. We learned that a stranding is a rescue of a mammal in shallow waters or on the beach and the rehab process of that mammal (or mammals). Did you know that dolphins are the most single-stranded marine mammal and that pilot whales are the most group-stranded marine mammals? It's true, but no one really knows why. 

Our day continued with a Question and Answer session with Armando "Mandy" Rodriquez, co-founder of the DRC. Many of us found our session with Mandy very inspiring. He told us that we can do anything we set our minds to and explained how he enjoys his occupation so much that it doesn't feel like work. We left with a sense that we should follow our passion when it comes to work. Soon after our QnA session with Mandy, Noelle taught us about the dolphin training program. We learned that the dolphins at the DRC are never punished for incorrect behaviors. In other words, they do not withhold food from the dolphins if they do not perform a behavior correctly; they are just not recognized with praise. They are rewarded for what they do correctly, which reinforces the positive behaviors. 

Karen showing us her skills

Mandy had to leave to attend to other things and that gave us the chance to experience a new marine mammal that we just heard about in our pinniped seminar yesterday: the sea lion. We had an up-close encounter with Karen, the 26-year-old blind sea lion whose home is at the DRC. We sat on the dock while we watched Karen carefully navigate using her hearing and touching. She showed off many of her skills such as waving and "shame" and we were blown away by the power of her bark. 

Clare asking AJ to perform "concert"

Our favorite session came next: signaling! Signals are used to prompt the dolphins to perform a specific behavior. Dolphins respond to hand signals, sometimes coupled with verbal signals, but mostly just with the hands. We each got to choose three signals, two for low-energy behaviors and one for high-energy behaviors. We individually got to ask (not make) a dolphin perform a behavior and test our our signaling skills, and they did! Rachel opted to purchase a t-shirt to be painted by one of the dolphins. Rainbow painted her a beautiful t-shirt by holding the paint

Rachel with Rainbow's Masterpiece

brush in his mouth and applying the pink and blue brush strokes to the t-shirt. She has a wonderfully unique memento from her experience here. Whether we opted for the t-shirt or the three signaling experiences, we all had a fantastic time and pretty much agreed that this was the funnest session so far. It was amazing to see how excited the dolphins got with each completed task. After much excitement, we said good night to the dolphins and made our way back to the dorms for dinner and reflection.

Tomorrow is our last official day at the DRC and our Dolphin Encounter. That means we will be in the water with the dolphins for a one-on-one session. We start at 9:30AM, so you might see us on the DRC webcam if you check it out. We're not sure which dock we'll be on, but if you scan through them, you just might see us!