My First Behavior!!!!!

Life at the aquarium has been above and beyond fantastic. Everyday is a new day that always comes with fun, learning, research, and surprises. These past two days I went in early to learn how to do fish prep. All of the diets for the whales gets weighed out in the morning and then cleaned and sorted throughout the day. Sunday I watched Kelly as she did it and yesterday Lindsey had me doing it pretty much on my own. Both Amanda and I are doing this so we will be ready to do it on our own at 6 am tomorrow (I will talk all about that in my next post). Fish prep seemed overwhelming at first, but once I got a rhythm down it was pretty easy and kinda fun!!

I also got to do new things with the whales yesterday. During some of the feedings the trainers will do window sessions. This is when one trainer is down by the window asking for behaviors from the whales, this gives the public an up-close look at the whales. Then there is another trainer sending, receiving, and reinforcing the whale. I got to play this role with Naku. She is such a smart and solid whale, she anticipated what I wanted her do do with the first tap on the lip (I almost didnt get a chance to finish the sD!!). I also got my first behavior today, a high five!!! I got to practice it a few times with Kela. I can do it with both her pecs and I ask her with my opposite hand. It is the coolest thing ever!!! Kela gives the best high fives in the world, I cannot wait to try it out with Naku!

Naku and Kela are not the only whales that are teaching me. Juno, our younger whale, provides countless amounts of entertainment and learning opportunities. I love sitting in on his sessions (even though I dont do anything hands on with him). There is so much to learn training wise as they are constantly training new behaviors and desensitizing with him. I have also been in the lip a few times with him so eventually one day he will participate in the beluga encounters program. You can tell that he wants to learn and do the right thing. He is such a funny whale and I cannot wait to watch him progress throughout the summer!