A school of Fish

One task I had to learn right from the get-go for my internship was learning how to prepare diets for the dolphins and other marine mammals (walruses, a polar bear, seals and sealions). And what does this involve?!...sorting out lots and lots and lots of fish!
This morning my coach marine mammal trainer, Kenzie, and I had to arrive at the zoo at 7 am because we were on what is called "Fish duty" (Each member of the marine mammal staff gets assigned a role for each day that involves completing a set amount of tasks that need to get done to ensure the facilities are clean, the animals are taken care of, fed and are happy and healthy!) Being on fish duty involves arriving super early (I rode in the dark this morning!) and sorting four different kinds of fish that include two kinds of herring (lean and fat), capelin and sardines. We pulled large, cardboard boxes of the fish from the freezer right outside the dolphin stadium, pulling the fish from the boxes in the kitchen (think of a large iceberg consisting primarily of fish or "fishberg", putting them in large, stainless-steel sinks under running water to thaw them, pulling the fish apart so they don't thaw together and then sorting them. We always check for fish that may have missing anatomical parts (an eye, a fin, etc.), cuts, abrasions or tears in their skin. Dolphins, seals and sealions are sensitive to bad fish and will not eat them if we give them any. Fish are also easy carriers for bacteria which could make the animals sick. The one exception is Tundra the polar bear....apparently she can handle eating fish that are not necessarily top cuisine! :)
After we have sorted out all the fish, we then divide them by kind into different buckets, put a layer of plastic and ice on top to keep them cold and then into the various freezers they go! Some buckets of fish will go out to the walrus and seal facility kitchens while others will stay in the dolphin kitchen.
Later this same morning, I was asked to make most of the dolphin diets for the various feeding sessions the trainers have with the animals. The dolphins can eat up to 20 to 25 pounds of fish a day!!! However, it would not be good to feed them all of that fish at once. Therefore, the trainers have several (as many as  six to seven!) feeding sessions a day in order that the dolphins get the proper amount of fish in their diet but this also serves to be a great reward when they successfully complete "tricks" or behaviors (more on training later!!!)
So how do I make these diets? Each dolphin has two stainless-steel buckets that are color coded according to each, individual dolphin:

China-white
Ripley-red
Kimo-orange
Jett-red and yellow
Indy-yellow and white
Nova-blue
Kalei-blue and yellow

(All of the younger dolphins have two colors with one color being the color of their mother and the other color being yellow. For example, since China is Indy's mother, she would have the color white with her yellow!)

I take each bucket and weigh out different kinds of fish each dolphin gets for each feed according to a chart we have in the dolphin kitchen. For example, during the 8:30 am feeding session, Jett may need 2 pounds of capelin as well as 1 pound of lean herring. I would first weigh out the 2 pounds of capelin, pour it into the bucket, and then weigh out and add the 1 pound of lean herring. So if you can imagine each dolphin has five feeding sessions in one day and needs up to twenty pounds of fish or more each day...that's a loooott of fish! In between sessions, we rinse and wash out the buckets so they can be used multiple times!
This part of my day takes a lot of work and requires patience....but I'll tell you one thing....it sure is cool being in the kitchen early in the morning when it is super quiet, looking out the windows that face east and watching the sunrise!

Dolphins...Dolphins...Dolphins!!!

Hey everyone!
So sorry it has been awhile since my last blog entry! This past week has been such a whirlwind since I moved down to Indianapolis (aka Indy) and started the internship. I officially moved down here on Sunday, September 12th into the house that I live in in the Irvington neighborhood (about seven miles away from downtown) and I started on monday! :)
Since there has already been so much that I have learned within four days' time, I thought I would write different posts involving various aspects of the internship just so that everyone would have a better idea of what it is like in the day of a marine mammal trainer!
Therefore...I will start with the actual animals themselves and the different ones I am starting to work with personally.
There are seven Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins housed at the Indianapolis Zoo; five females and two males. The names of the females are Ripley, Indy, China, Nova and Kahlei. The names of the males are Kimo and Jett. The reason why they are called bottlenose dolphins is because their mouth and nose (or the rostrum) is shaped like a bottle! :)
Kimo is the dominant male in the pod (or group) and Nova is the dominant female. This means that these  two dolphins, in a sense, rule the roost...or pool I should say!
China, Ripley, Nova and Kimo are the oldest dolphins in the pod and their ages range from the early to mid twenties (dolphins can live to be up to twenty five to thirty years of age!) while Kahlei, Indy and Jett are the youngest dolphins in the pod. Jett's mother is Ripley and Indy's mother is China. So far, two of my favorite dolphins have been Kahlei and Indy. Indy is lighter in color than most of the other dolphins and has a characteristic "underbite" of her nose and mouth which she inherited from her mother (China has the same thing on her nose and mouth or rostrum too!) Kahlei, which means "beloved" in Hawaiian is more large and robust in size. It is easy to tell her apart from the other dolphins due to a "notch" that she has on the front of her dorsal, or top, fin when she swims around in the pool. Both of these beautiful girls are very playful. Whenever we come in in the morning for the first feed of the day, they always pop their heads up on the side of the pool to see what we are doing. Kahlei is always hungry for attention, loves to play and show off for her trainers! Indy is also super curious and never misses a chance to see what's going on!
The more time I spend with these amazing animals, the more I appreciate their beauty, personality, power, strength, stamina and grace!

All Packed! :)

It's almost here!
I'm now back in Kalamazoo! Today was spent doing laundry, packing, getting Google Maps directions and running errands! My dad and I will be leaving early tomorrow morning (7:30 AM) for the great city of Indianapolis!
Next post...I will actually be there!

One Week Left to Go!

It's a tuesday night and I chilling at a friend's house in East Lansing in excited anticipation for the week to end! I still can't believe that I will be leaving east lansing this friday, I pack on saturday, drive down to indianapolis on sunday and then zoo orientation starts monday! It all seems so surreal and unbelievable! Working with marine mammals has been a dream of mine since I was little and my parents took me to Sea World for the very first time!
I also remember trips to see dolphin shows at the Brookfield Zoo and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago with my family throughout the years and being in absolute awe of any creature that was considered a mammal but could also swim and breathe underwater!
So the countdown continues! Indianapolis zoo here I come!