Dolphin Quest

 

I want to share my day at Dolphin Quest located at the Kahala Resort. It was such a fun and educational experience involving dolphins along with the husbandry and training that is required to care for them. I was lucky enough to be able to pay a visit and receive an inside look at their dolphin program because I was an intern at the Waikiki Aquarium and all of us interns were invited, along with the volunteers.

The day started out with introductions and a run-down of the activities and educational sessions. The sea life area was divided up into stations and we were divided up into groups to attend those stations. Most of the stations involved dolphin husbandry but a couple of the stations had fish, rays, and turtles to learn about. 

At the dolphin stations we got an inside look at medical treatments and exams that were very similar to how we teach and handle our monk seals at the aquarium. Basically the goal is to teach a marine mammal to pose their bodies to expose parts that may need medical attention or examinations. By training a marine mammal to do this you minimize stress levels exponentially when they need blood drawn or physical examinations. They remain calm which allow the trainer/vet to do their job. Below in the photo you can see an orange object which is attached by suction cups to the dolphins back. This device is a fake however it is modeled to a specific weight and feel of the real tracking devices that scientists use to study the lives and habits of dolphins out in the wild. These dolphins are not uncomfortable or harmed with these devices. The cylinder you also see is another way to get the dolphin used to, if need be, certain medications that are given nasally.

The dolphin and trainer below are working on body exposure so that the trainer or vet can physically examine the body for any abnormalities.

There were a total of 3 adult green sea turtles.

They had 2 rays and both were trained to distinguish between shapes!!!

Lastly you can see this puffer fish in the photo below who was trained also believe it or not! Until this day I had no idea that fish could be trained. This little guy could also distinguish between shapes and would swim up and into an outline of either a triangle, square, or circle and expect a little treat each time he got it right. Needless to say I was pretty amazed! This prompted me to go to Barnes and Noble and buy the book titled What a Fish Knows.