A day in the life of a marine mammal intern with the dolphins...

Hey everyone!
Its been a while since my last blog post! Things have been so busy here at the zoo but I'm loving every minute of it! Since it's only two days till Halloween, we have been having the Indianapolis Zoo ZooBoo celebration every weekend. This is a time where kids get to come dressed up in their halloween costumes to the zoo, play games, see the animals, get lots of amazing candy and see the Halloween decorations we have all worked so hard to put up! The last day for this fun time will be on saturday...not too much longer now!
Also in honor of Halloween, we have been having special halloween dolphin shows where we play Halloween-themed music and the trainers put the dolphin's fish in plastic, pumpkin buckets and guests can come to the dolphin shows dressed up in their costumes too! In addition, Kenzi, my mentor marine mammal trainer, trained Kalei and Indy to perform what is called the "fang" behavior where she puts a fish into the dolphin's mouth, the dolphin holds the fish and does not attempt to eat it. This behavior takes a lot of patience and repetition the but the end result is pretty amazing to see!

So.....each day has been somewhat different and there is always something new to see or learn the more I have done this internship. However, below is a basic "day" in the life of a marine mammal intern at the Indianapolis zoo and some of the things that I do on a daily basis:

1. 7:45 am-arrive at the zoo and clock in/get my keys at the Administration building and walk over to the dolphin building

2. 8-8:30 am-put on my rubber boots and go and collect water samples from tanks for each of the pools in the marine mammal areas if I get assigned to do this. The water samples are tested for chlorine levels in the pools as well as pH levels, etc. These samples are collected either right from the pools when the animals are off exhibit (with the dolphin pool I collect it when the dolphins are away in the other pools) or from tanks where the water is being filtered and cleaned. The samples are then taken to the water quality specialist in the Oceans building. On mondays, choliform samples are taken to test additionally for chlorine levels

3. 8:30-10 am-participate in a morning feed session and feed one of the dolphins at trainer's discretion, prepare dolphin diets, laundry, scrub algae off ledges of dolphin pools, clean area where wetsuits are kept or perform other chores that need to get done according to day of the week or whatever trainer's need to get done

4. 10-10:45 am-open up doors for first dolphin show, help guests find seating, make sure guests remain seated during shows, lock doors after show, clean theater, narrate dolphin shows depending on day of the week and show time, clean theater stands

5. 11-12 pm-lunch! :)

6. 12-2 pm-on weekends, help out in theater during 12:30 dolphin show, open and close gates during feedings, complete laundry and other chores that need to be done, pick out overnight toys/enrichment items for dolphins, participate in play sessions with dolphins with trainers

7. 2-2:45 pm-collect afternoon water samples if assigned, open up theater for 2:30 show (weekends and weekdays), narrate shows if assigned, assist guests, open and lock theater doors

8. 3-5 pm-clean theater after 2:30 pm show, participate in feed and play sessions with dolphins and trainers, help out and narrate 4:30 pm show on weekends if assigned, complete assigned chores if still not done, put overnight toys in dolphin pools, check gates, check locks, clean kitchen, disinfect stainless-steel buckets for next day, write in journal

9. 5-5:15 pm-check out at Administration building and turn in keys, leave for home

Again, this is a very basic day in the life of what I have been doing at the zoo. Some days I get assigned to work outside with the walruses, seals and sealions. I will be posting up a blog of that soon since I will be working with sealions and seals this coming weekend!
Some days we have other things that go on that include: dolphin or other marine mammal ultrasounds, the dolphins get weighed in the morning every monday, the animals receive a visual physical exam by the veterinarians, volunteers will make diets or perform other extra projects and I will be assigned to do other things, I am assigned to dive into the pools and clean the pool areas, special meetings, etc. The one thing I have loved about this internship has been the variety of each day yet there is a routine too!

****Special note: I want to take this moment to remember Nereus, the male walrus at the zoo. He passed away last week thursday due to a severe illness and would not wake up from the anasthetic when they were doing a physical exam on him. He was much loved and will be missed a lot! We love you Nereus!