JKN

Juno~The funny little 8 year old whale who is fed from the green/white marked bucket and targets a whale tale. I describe him as our curious jiggly whale with wide eyes. I LOVE sitting in on Juno sessions. He is always learning and it has been absolutely fascinating to watch his training and desensitization sessions. Lindsey has been working with him to desense him to a toothbrush. The whale's get their teeth done about once a year and they each have an individual toothbrush just like ours. They are battery powered and make an annoying buzzing noise. I have been helping Lindsey by turning the toothbrush on and off when she asks me to. The first time I did it he swam away. She then had me stand farther back, he has gradually been approximated to the point where the toothbrush can now go into his mouth with the back of it touching his teeth while on turned on. He is the whale that you always see interacting with enrichment and with the public at the windows. He can blow bubble rings. He is such a smart and funny whale and I would love to see how he has developed a year from now.

Kela~She is the whale that I have worked with the most. I do not even know how I am going to say goodbye when the time comes. Kela is a whale that you have to earn everything with. Right now she is very vocal during our sessions, stays for tongue rubs, and is energetic and attentive in our sessions. However, when I first started working with her she was quiet, when through the motions, and would back away from station. It has been amazing to watch our relationship form. She is a funny whale. She gets really excited during sessions and will make weeeeeee sounds after nearly every bridge. During tongue rubs she will go underwater and spin in a circle and will give cute little vocals as if to say "more please". Kela has also shown me examples of aggression. Yelling at Juno, head nodding at Juno, jaw popping at the windows. It might look/sound cute to an outsider, but we do what we can to reduce the aggression.

Naku~Sweet, solid, patient, sharing. These are just some of the words to describe this amazing whale. Also fat. At 1400 she is the largest whale in our exhibit. I have learned so much with her. She has put up with all my mistakes (dropping things into the pool being one) and has stayed with me in sessions while I was thinking my way through it. She loves tongue rubs and will vocalize to get them. She loves ice, we can toss ice right into her mouth!! She is a very squinty whale and I am amazed that she can see our sD's and bridges. She will always share her tongue rubs with whoever else is on her session, regardless of who ended her.

I love all of these whales and it is near impossible to choose a favorite. They have all taught me so much and I will miss all of them a tremendous amount.

Wow.

In a little over two weeks I will be back in Jersey. It is so hard to believe that just a short time ago I was biting my nails over leaving home for 3 months and now I have tears in the back of my eyes from not wanting to leave. This has been such a whirlwind. I am not going to write too many more blogs. I am going to follow this one up with a few short ones summarizing my time here. I know that the next two weeks will be insane, busy, stressful, incredible, educational, and every other adjective I can think of. I have me amazing people and have formed friendships which I hope will last forever. I have developed new tools that I can use when working with and training animals. And I have had the opportunity to work with some pretty incredible whales. Writing that last sentence sent a chill through me. My college advisor once asked me what I planned on doing after graduation. I said my usual reply, marine mammal trainer. He turned to his computer and asked me what my back-up plan was for when that didnt happen. I had no answer. I still have no answer. Sure it wont happen immediately. I can see myself going back to the kennel or working at PETCO as a dog trainer or working at a zoo or aquarium with other animals. But this is the final goal. I hate that I am getting all sappy, I make fun of people for this. But it is hard not too when I have been living my dream for 3 months and soon I will back in school working at a job I hate (except for the beloved horses I work with). I am so excited for what my future holds for me, but no matter where my life take me I will always remember where I began.

Thank You All--Lindsey, Justin, Kate, Kelly, Sasha, Kim, Kristine, each and every one of the volunteers (Lila, Barret, Bill, Hilary, Kayla, and Ray), and of course the most amazing whales in the world-Juno, Kela, and Naku

Building My Repertoire and Secondaries

This has been a crazy week. To start off I am just getting my voice back after it took a week-long hiatus, I think my trainer friends were somewhat entertained by my broken record/breaking up cell phone/frog-mouse hybrid voice. But now I just sound like a singer called Duffy according to Justin. Anyway on Sunday Lindsey introduced me to tongue rubs during sessions. Up until now I have been doing tongue rubs after sessions and for trainer interaction enrichment. These are extremely reinforcing to the whales (and all of us!!!). Tongue rubs are also used during sessions as secondary reinforcers. Secondary reinforcement is reinforcement that animals do not need to survive. Clickers and whistles are secondary reinforcers (they are also bridges-they bridge the gap between the behavior and reinforcement. Confused yet? If you are I dont care I'll pull down your underwear!!! Anyway at first I was instructed to treat the tongue rubs as a behavior in order to condition them to being used as a reinforcer, in other words: tongue rub-point at whale to bridge-reinforce with fish. Today Lindsey said I could start using the tongue rub as reinforcement, but also as a behavior. Example: in a session I will give two tongue rubs at some point and then give the whale a fish afterwards, I will also ask for a simple behavior (target or high five) and give a tongue rub instead of a fish. Get it? Good.

I have also received two new behaviors. Yesterday I learned how to do a dorsal layout. Basically the whale's head is against the beach with the dorsal part of their body exposed. I can keep them in this position for up to 30 seconds and can give the sD in either a kneeling or standing position. I also learned low range vocal on Naku today (I will do Kela on Sunday). I simply place a finger n the whales melon (head) and she makes a sound that kind of sounds like giving someone a raspberry. I can do up to 4 of these in a row (bridging in between) before reinforcement.

Finally (I told you this week was crazy), I learned a new game with Naku (again, Kela on Sunday). It is called ring toss. It is the same thing as ball toss, but with a ring. So I have had a pretty cool week with the whales. I am still maintaining everything else I have been doing and learning more and more everyday. I could not possibly ask for a better internship, better animals and people to work with, or a better mentor.

Yep, I pretty much love my life right now.

Quit Playing Games With My Heart

The lame title is in honor of the AMAZING concert that Amanda and I attended and the fact that I can now play a fun game with both Kela and Naku. Its called ball toss which is pretty self-explanatory. I put a ball in the whale's mouth, give and sD, and then catch the ball when they throw it to me. Actually the first time I played with Naku I dropped the ball, scared her, but then she retrieved it for me from the water. She is such a good whale.

I am actually beginning to form relationships with both of the whales. Naku has a "please more please more please more" vocalization when she is getting tongue rubs. She has never done this with me before, but on Sunday when I was giving her ice she started vocalizing to me when I ran out. She has also been vocalizing during our end of session tongue rubs. Kela has been approaching and and vocalizing to me during morning chores. She is also alot more vocal during our sessions and has been eager to stay with me during tongue rubs. I was sharing end of session tongue rubs on her with a volunteer and she seemed more interested in me than the volunteer (something that has never happened before).

I am continuing to maintain and improve on the other behaviors that I have already talked about and I can only hope to continue to improve on what I can and to build up the relationships that I am gaining with the whales.

People of CT

So you know that website peopleofwalmart.com? Well, I have seen some interesting character wandering around CT. I will update periodically

~Two old guys in electric wheelchairs cruising down the middle of my street-I was trying so hard no to laugh

~A young guy walking down my sidewalk with a giant backpack-like those backpacks that you see people wearing when they are backpacking around Europe. Where was he going? Did he think New London was actually in Europe?

~A very very fat guy in the mall with a red shirt that said "Ladies Man"

~A middle aged white man with a pink plaid shirt, light pink shorts, very white shoes, and long socks walking down the sidewalk with two little black girls

~A sporty looking woman parked in my parking lot and got out of the car with an old guy in a bathrobe and slippers. He shuffled to the bushes outside my house and started yelling at her about them (i am guessing thats what he was yelling about judging by his gestures). The then went back to the car and drove off

The House of Horrors

On the edge of the ghetto lies a little house.

A house made of wood and odd colors.

A house with many doors, many locked, many unable to lock.

Within this house lies the Area of the Forbidden.

All who enter will sound an alarm and the Landbitch will come running.

Beside the Forbidden is the Land of Horrors.

On the first level the Quiet Asian lurks.

She is waiting for nightfall to make grudge worthy sounds that give goosebumps to all.

In her room she stays all day, only emerging briefly to eat or to enter the Lockless Sanitarium.

The Lockless Sanitarium is a room to be avoided, but impossible to avoid.

This is the room in which the body is cleansed.

This is the room in which personal moments occur.

This is the room in which the blinds are always open.

This is the room which will never lock.

But this is only the beginning of the tour of the House of Horrors.

Beyond a mysterious door is the Staircase of Death.

This Staircase is is narrow.

This Staircase is steep.

This Staircase will unleash even the tiniest peep.

Above the Staircase of Death dwells two entities.

Choose the door to the right and will encounter the Dirty One.

This creature from the seas lives in a Floorless Room.

Clothes giving off the odor of deceased fish and dry sweat create the foundation of its chamber.

In the pit of the night the devil yells.

In the pit of the night the devil cackles.

In the pit of the night the devil speaks its native language.

This may seem the worst of the choices, but go the left and it may be regretful.

Choose the door to the left and encounter The Raccoon.

This is the one that never sleeps, yet sleeps the day away.

This is the one who will snatch your meals before they are prepared.

This is the one who will hoard your earnings without a tinge of guilt.

This is the one who will make sure you never hear anything else but its own creations.

Close all the doors, make it down the Staircase, sneak past the Asian, and avoid the Sanitarium.

The journey through the House of Horrors is now over.

Drive away and never look back.

A Day in the Life

Working with animals there is no such thing as a "typical day", but I will give a basic rundown of what I am doing every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

5:30 wake up

7:00 leave

7:30-9 soda ash, bicarb (if needed), foot baths, clean the weir, sweep the beach, western quat the beach, rinse the beach, get rid of puddles, get rid of pine cones, clean windows (if it has not been done already), help out in the kitchen (if needed)

9:15ish plan the board (go through each feeding session and decide who is going to work what whale and what they will do with them), put vitamins in fish, cut Kela's fish (if needed)

9:30 Feeding session #1, when it is over the buckets, lids, and toys get cleaned and the fish bin gets "flipped". The buckets for the next session are already set (the fish prep person has already done this) so the buckets for the following session need to be filled-the fish are already weighed out and in a bin ready to be put in the freshly cleaned buckets. Enrichment follows this, it has already been planned for the day.

10:15ish Break=Beanery!!!

10:45ish clean fish for the next session

11:15 Feeding session #2, repeat

12:15 Lunch

1:00 Observation period for my research project

1:30 Feeding session #3, repeat

2:30 clean fish

3:00 Feeding session #4, repeat-the AC side of the kitchen now gets cleaned from top to bottom

4:00ish Enter my data into the computer

4:30 clean fish

5:00 Feeding session #5, repeat-the PI side of the kitchen now gets cleaned from top to bottom, I also usually check that all pool gates are open if no one has already has

6:00ish leave:(