I am working in the Marine Mammals department today! This includes the SeaLion and the Harbor Seal exhibits. I started by working with Caitlyn and Hailey, two interns from this department, in the food prep room. They showed me how to wash and disinfect dishes, read the charts for different animal food prep, and how each one liked their food cut. I loved working with the interns, they seemed like good friends by the end of the day.
I then got to go out and watch Mollie, one of the trainers, do some enrichment with one of the sea lions. There were also two divers in the exhibit cleaning, and this seemed like a regular part of their job. This sea lion was super timid and was the only one allowed to be on exhibit while there were divers in the water. The others would be too curious and bug the divers too much. I was super grateful to watch this enrichment, and I started to understand the different animals’ personalities and how that impacts their training.
Caitlyn and I then went over to the Harbor Seal exhibit with a big car wash type toy to do some enrichment with the seals. Unlike the sea lion exhibit, the Harbor Seals are visible to the public who haven’t paid to get inside the Aquarium and it is located right near where people waited to enter the facility. So, there were always plenty of people watching, and so many excited kids as this was their first look at what an aquarium has to offer. The Harbor Seals had feedings and training twice a day. This included listening to cues by their trainer, getting their teeth brushed, and one was even holding a paintbrush in her mouth and painting. The public loved that one.
Back in the main area, I was allowed to watch the Sea Lions get trained. They have specific trainers that are their primary person. For example, Serena (person) was Sierras (sea lion) primary. So when Serena was training her, Sierra listened and cooperated with her very well. The Sea Lions primary can’t always be there though, so they have a backup trainer. The Sea lion will be cooperative, but not quite as much as if it were their primary. This was demonstrated in the final feeding and training of the day. Serena was having Sierra do all kinds of movements to demonstrate their relationship, but the other trainer was having trouble as he was a backup to a backup of the sea lion he was working with. It was really interesting to see how much relationships have to do with these animals and how they act.
In between each session, the other interns and I would clean all the dishes and toys used and disinfect them, and make sure food was ready for the next session. We had some extra time, so one of the interns made jello molds to use as a toy for the sea lions. She said they don’t normally actually eat them, but they love to play with them. They even had emptied out a watermelon and filled it with jello and the sea lions were very intrigued by it. I had a great time working in the Marine Mammals department, and would have loved to be an actual intern for them for the summer!