At some point people will call me obsessed, but I got another occasion to interact with dolphins earlier this week >w< Learned more than ever! And thought to share the experience here if someone is bored enough to read xP
[EDIT after writing: Gah this turned so much longer than planned xD ]
The "Animal Park / Dolphinarium Duisburg" (Germany) offers a "Caretaker for half a day" program. You register and select an animal area for 300€. Apparently the one with koalas is always the one booked out quickest. But they also offer this at the cetacean basins where they host 7 bottlenose dolphins. To my suprise (since I could not quite believe it) it was for one participant at a time! That's only one of the stark contrasts to the "Trainer for a day" program Discovery Cover in Orlando offers which a friend and I attended last year together with about 4 other previously unknown people.
Unlike Discovery Cove which was primarily entertainment and focused on swimming with the dolphins, this explicitly stated in their (general) description "Note, this is not an offer to pet the animals" and this was also targetted at adults.
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Enough the wordiness, what did I get to learn and experience?
First they made me sort food for the 'phins: Freshly unfrozen blocks of small fish and together with a trainer and another caretaker we removed all damaged or unnormal looking fish - just what has potential of carrying bacteria and be dangerous for the cetaceans. Interestingly fresh and cooled fish like that does practically not smell at all by the way.
Afterwards, another trainer who also checks up on the dolphins healthwise and called us to one of the basins in the backstage. Something I noticed rather quickly compared to Discovery Cove, the cetaceans did pay attention to me too, not exclusively the trainers (more on that later). At the water they had me witness what they were doing today: Two of the fmales had contraceptives implanted recently (fairly sure the equivalent of an "IUD" for humans") and they were using ultrasound to verify that this successfully supressed "deployment" (not sure if that's the right word in English xD ) of eggcells.
All this (and everything else) happened just at the edge of the basin in the water by the way and without any restriction of the dolphins. It is extremely rare that they have to actually "catch" a dolphin and hoist them out of the water (with a special padded thing you could describe as a hammock).
Was interesting to see how they take care of the dolphins breath, signaling it for them in a way. They wait and make sure they breathe once, or even give a command to do so, before giving the command to turn over and show off their belly or sides where they needed to use the waterproof ultrasound device. That's so the caretakers don't get surprised by the dolphin deciding to breathe spontaneously. Wouldn't have been a big deal on the ultrasound checkup of course but surely would be bad e.g. when taking a blood sample.
Obviously I was not able to recognize anything on that ultrasound live screen but they confirmed everything was fine. Afterwards they discussed that they need to take an urine sample, but saaaadly they decided to postpone that to tomorrow xD
Afterwards the second veternerian gave me directly a closer view on one of the beautiful creatures (think Dolly was her name). He explained some anatomy aspects and we looked closely at the flukes.
A thing I didn't know yet was that they use their flukes like heat exchangers. Similar principle to how ducks feet work: The arteries with blood from the body are led very closely against the veins with returning blood (unlike in most animals). In ducks that evolved so that the warmth goes from the fresh blood to the returning blood and thus heat remains in the body. That way ducks can stand on ice.
Dolphins do the opposite: Because everything but their flukes is coated in a thick dense sheet of fat and they cannot cool via transpiration, they use this heat echange to keep their flukes warm and thus loose excess heat. Likely they can control the bloodflow as well (like we humans can too to a degree).
He also explained me their training methods which do match with everything I heard in the US before. Essentially positive reinforcement with seconds of attention withdrawal being the only negative incentive.
The one other technique is desensitizing for the purpose of some of the medicinal procedures. E.g. he was gently pinching the fluke in the spot where they regularly take blood samples (whose results are publicly available online by the way alongside a lot of other daily data: https://delfinarium-zoo-duisburg.de/medizinische-daten-1). Just so she would get as used as possible to it.
If the dolphin had shown attempts of moving against this feeling like trying to shake him off, he would try to keep the finger in place and calm the dolphin, only releasing when it would be calm and just then remove the finger. That way they learn that becoming calm is what removes an unpleasant feeling and not struggling. Of course if she truly had been bothered by that pinch, the dolphin could easily have knocked the trainer out with a swing of that fluke xD Dolly however was very calm. They all were as long as they were instructed to be~
One thing was a little sad, but guess it is better than the alternative. Their oldest dolphin, Ivo (44 years!) has faulty kidneys for about 20 years. Not directly treatable (as in healable), but they help him by providing extra water. Now dolphins naturally can't drink seawater and thus normally don't. They get their water from their food. He has been taught to accept a tube though which they provide him with water. It's a fraction of the thickness of fish they eat and they don't have a gagging reflex (like many sea creatures I guess - you probably have heard of turtles - and that leads to them swallowing so much plastic in the ocean :( )
They fed the dolphins a bit (though they get most of their daily food during the public performances) and then I was taken through a long tour through the technical side of the facility and also through the laboratory where they do regular tests on the water for various values that essentially allow conclusions on the metabolism of the dolphins. The procedures are semi automated with lots of waiting time, so we got to talk.
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The caretaker noticed quickly that I already know a lot about dolphins (and a bit of aquaristic from when my parents had an aquarium) and think he skipped some basics after that. We got into some very interesting topics. Some fascinating things I learned:
- Dolphins sleep not only with half a brain but also one eye at a time! The other eye remains open, looking for dangers. They do it often in groups. In the wild in huge ones consisting of multiple pods. He compared that with a "wagon fort" (from Western movies). Forming a circle where the awake eye is always on the outside. Over time they swap direction or position. This has been witnessed extremely rarely because obviously the purpose is to react to anything, so boats, drones etc. make them wake up fully. In the basins the caretakers have witnessed them doing this in pairs or small groups... And it seems like they can even play while "half sleeping".
- Even whilst sleeping, they keep moving constantly, not only for regular breath. It was explained that the way they store huge amounts of oxygen in their blood also has the side effect that their muscles don't need much physical rest like we humans do. They have been seen to stay perfectly still only for minutes at a time and that they do actually at the surface to breathe and with both eyes open. The caretaker said they essentially have separated mental sleep from physical sleep. Evolutionary, this is all just so they show themselves vulnerable as rarely and briefly as somehow possible because they do have opportunistic predators after all.
- The dolphins decide on their own in which area they want to sleep every night. Interestingly they can see that in the water values they take daily because despite a connecting channel, the two large basins they have do have separate water clearning facilities.
- Even if given the opportunity, they don't actually hunt fish much in their basins. They highly prefer the food given by their caretakers directly. That's even the case in those few places were dolphins are held in netted-off areas in the ocean where fish can swim inside though. Guess they are efficient after all - why hunt if you get food anyways? They are animals like us xD
- Obviously most dolphinariums don't have fish along the 'phins. Chlorinated water would not allow for them. Duisburg is one of few places that made the effort of at least having biologically active water (meaning microbial life is allowed to thrive in a controlled manner like in an aquarium). That's why you do see algae in their water there. The caretaker told me he would love if they could go all the way and also have fish but they don't have the money for such investment as the massive filtering system would need an expensive upgrade. I guess to make it financially viable, you would need to design everything in one go so that viewers get to experience fish too and actually pay more for that.
- Duisburg has an unique bacteria based conversion system that efficiently filters the nitrate in the water out. Nitrate is the main metabolism product and it's turned into gasous nitrogen. It was a scientific experiment that remained in function for decades now.
- Dolphins seem to be able to adjust how well they hear. It is their jaw bone which transfers soundwaves to their ear the most because everything else is packed in an isolating sheet of fat. And they can adjust via muscle tension how strong the connection between the jaw and the skull (where the ear sense is embedded) is.
- The same species of dolphins are fatter in cold regions and slimmer in hot regions. In hot regions you soemtimes even can see the ribcage (yet need to find images of that ). That's because the fat is solating and they adapt tot hat. Even given the same, constant food, they do control the fatness when water temperature changes! Man what would we give for such a skill to control how much fat we build up xD
- At least the caretaker I talked to about it, does not believe that we will discover a full language of dolphins, like this Goolge project attempts ( https://blog.google/technology/ai/dolphingemma/ ). He believs while of course respectable, their language is simple. They do not need more than the basics for their survival. And since so much about them is clearly focused on survival (as mentioned above), would there really be evolutionary room for what we would call a language that allows for casual or personal talk? We humans developed language not out of nowhere. We don't know for sure of course, but a major theory is that we developed complex language to explain the making and usage of tools and other techniques when we reached a point that showing was not enough. Have cetaceans reached this point too? It is hard to tell... Personally I do of course hope that he is wrong because I do wanna see conversations with dolphins, yet there's also risk people will missuse that somehow in the wild >_< In turn it could help reducing dolphins becoming bycatch of the fishing industry... Everything's a doubledged sword, isn't it?
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All in all this was a really really cool experience. To my surprise the caretakers showed quite some trust in me. They let me move around in the backstage area frely and without being watched, carrying food and ice around, collecting toys from earlier sessions etc. Wanna assume they would not do that to anyone and I gave an trustworthy impression, yay xD Almost wish they had not done it that way but actually gave me opportunity to ask whether I can interact with the dolphins some - because they were following me around all the time! Not only when carrying toys or food. Was so cute to see =D First time I also noticed them moving their eyes.
Big contrast to Discovery Cove where the dolphins always were robotically focused on the trainers only. Though I guess that's just how they are taught. When they are given attention by the trainer, they return it strongly. At all other times they remain curious and playful. During the medicinal procedures the others were a little nosy and the other caretaker had to distract them.
They were coming so clsoe to that window... such curious creatures. Over in Nürnberg they have a large, public window. But they sadly rarely show up there, let alone float patiently. It only takes a few idiots using flash photography to lt them avoid that part of the basin I bet :/ Negative experiences outweigh even their curiosity...
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Since the world is how it is, I feel urged to add a few words of my general opinion:
A lot of people are critical of hosting and showcasig dolphins. The caretakers brought that up themselves.
Zoos in general in Germany are under fire right now because of a zoo where baboons multiplied too much. You cannot give them contraceptives (like they do to the dolphins) because unlike 'phins, their whole hierarchy and behavior is fundamentally guided by sex. Furthermore no reservates accept them either. The zoo ended up having to kill some which of course made the public yell.. ignoring how many baboons in the wild die daily for natural reasons q_q There was no waste; they were used to substitute some of the meat they give to lions.
Therefore is there really something or someone to blame? Is the life that was made possible through the zoo, not valuable as well? So often people believe to do the "right thing" by speaking out but based on really little knowledge. Some people only viewing from the outside, never having talked to a caretaker for whom the animals are family, literally like to assume that animals in zoos are depressed. I don't have experience with other species, but I have witnessed dolphins numerous times by now in several places.
Now I'm no way a person with universally above average high compassion. But I do get touched easily enough. If the dolphins did not give me any impression of sadness while being there for hours, I genuinely doubt that someone from outside can say with greater confidence the opposite, that they are depressed or anything. Finally, one thing is clear to me: There are WAY easier ways of making money than by holding dolphins. That is not primarily being done out of greed but out of care too and with a greater purpose...
Ultimately, in my opinion places like these are important for humans to not loose the remaining sense of contact with nature. I am convinced without zoos, dolphinariums etc. the average people would care even less about preserving our planet! It is a vastly better way to let people actually experience animals and learn to care about them than trying to just tell people (too often with condescending means) that they should care over themselves.
Exploitation (also in the form of hunting) should not happen. Though what do we know what exploitation is?
A new thought that a caretaker gave me: The ocean is vast and endlessly deep. The vast majority of cetaceans never come into shallow waters (there are 6 million 'phins and we spot maybe some thousands in shallow water). Further out in the ocean they cannot play with the seafloor either, it's out of even their reach.
That means they are in an endless blue, only deemed to look for food and perhaps other pods for cross-mating. No other stimulations at all out there. And that's while we see how eager and positive they do react to stimulation when they do get it. Hence how entirely wild dolphins often show curiosity in humans and their boats.
So life at a dolphinarium there may not be all that bad.
I mean, yes, as a human it'd be like prison to be locked in there. But the alternative is to be deemed to a life on the ocean... For a human that would be eg. an infinite but repetitive lush warm forest with eddible berries here and there, many hand-huntable animals and occasionally a wolf as a predator that forces you to always be cautious. So yeah.. instead of that please please let me be a dolphin in a dolphinarium! xD
A valid counter argument to that of course is: It's not up to us to decide for them and the dolphins have not been asked for consent. There is little to say against that, except to argue with the purpose I mentioned before: Those dolphins entertaining us teach us the value of nature and ultimately, if that truly is actually a sacrifice they make through that, it helps their species. All because we humans are not thinking on our own what's best for the planet and this will most likely not change...
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Phew, enough arguing with myself. Hope I managed to share a bit of knowledge with this and am certainly open or opinions too. Or more knowledge :)
I mean... am not really expecting people to read. To be fully blunt, I do write journals like these (and also the ones of my trips to the US and Singapore) to help myself strengthen the memory in a way and to perhaps re-read one day in the future.
I mean... am not really expecting people to read. To be fully blunt, I do write journals like these
I've always heard that dolphins are very social creatures and I think they're at least as aware of others as dogs, so they probably understand that we are NOT dolphins but that we are similarly intelligent creatures who interact with them as friends despite the species barrier. Because of that, so long as they are surrounded by people who genuinely love dolphins and want to do what's best for their well-being in as gentle and positive a way possible, it is certainly not a depressing or terrible life for them in a place like a dolphinarium. We should be less concerned with if the dolphins are okay with it and more focused on the people throughout the organization, from the financial division to the trainers, all having the well-being of their cetacean friends as their top priority. So long as they are, the dolphins should be fine.
I've always heard that dolphins are very social creatures and I think they're at least as aware of o
That's a fair very assessment in my opinion! Hope we do manage to foster an atmosphere where the people with the right passions feel encouraged to do things like these. Sadly with negativity being spread about everyone in that field, there's risk that good people are deterred. Kinda like in politics where you have to have a rather thick skin to have any chance to make it far in politics - and those people may not actually be the right people for that job >_<
That's a fair very assessment in my opinion! Hope we do manage to foster an atmosphere where the peo
Some time ago I had read a lot about dolphins. About how they can give you a name if they know you. And about what it's like to get pinged by them. Since that, it's always kind of been on my bucket-list to get pinged by a dolphin.
A few years ago, I went to a place where we could "pet the dolphins." We were also doing gestures to get the dolphins to do things like "stand" in the water and let us clap their fins.
One gesture was to hold our hands close to our face and the dolphin would nuzzle your cheek with its snoot. These gestures were of course for photos. But, after I did that one, before the dolphin went back into the water, I felt this quick, strange vibration in my head. Almost like when you touch a vibrating-massager to your scalp, but just for a second. Kind of made me wince with disorientation for a second.
Girl helped cross an item off my bucket list that day.
Some time ago I had read a lot about dolphins. About how they can give you a name if they know you.
Ooh very intersting! o: The main part of that sounds identical to what we got to do at Discovery Cove last year. That is however what I mentioned in the journal, where I got the feeling the the dolphins were a bit.. robotic. Am not sure they reaaally reacted to us but rather the trainer and just did what they do thousands of time on the trainers cue. So we were essentially the same as the balls they play with at other times of the day xD But it was great to feel their warmth and strength.
That the one you did interact with, actually sent a sort of signal to you, is amazing though! Very cool, thank you for sharing~
I will research on the naming thing, that is fascinating!
Ooh very intersting! o: The main part of that sounds identical to what we got to do at Discovery Cov
I agree it was very much a "trained" type of thing. It was fun, though. From what I remember, her skin felt a little like vinyl? It felt like it had very tiny ridges in it. We also got to a pet a manatee and there was such a night-and-day difference between the two. Manatees feel very rough and just. "Inelegant" xD
I have also read that Dolphins' are able to use the sound wave acoustics to map a three-dimensional image of whatever they are focusing on (prey, is the example I remember this from) in their brain.
I agree it was very much a "trained" type of thing. It was fun, though. From what I remember, her sk
Yeah their skin is somewhere between rubber and latex in a way. Hard to describe but definitely nice to the touch~
And yes, indeed they have a form of echolocation that also applies to objects/other creatures. Not sure we can really tell what they see in their brain, but they can recognize objects and locations without line of sight for sure.
Yeah their skin is somewhere between rubber and latex in a way. Hard to describe but definitely nice
That's really cool, I wish I could meet dolphins as well. They are such nice creatures ... and very cute hmpf >~< Did you get to have a lil swim with them or that is part of the "I didn't dare to actually test if they would react in any way more than by following or play with them ..."? I'm kinda jealous, ngl, but I'm happy for you being able to meet these wholesome creatures. Hopefully you will be able to make a fantastic discovery one day!
That's really cool, I wish I could meet dolphins as well. They are such nice creatures ... and very
What country do you live in? There is a number of locations that give the opportunity! ^w^ Hope you make it some day and a dolphin will pay you attention :3
Don't think I'll make discoveries, mean I'm not a researcher in any way. If AI actually replaces all software dev jobs, I may look into it, haha.
Unfortunately no swimming with them here. Not sure how much the trainers do that either - they didn't go into the water while I was there and at least performances with trainers in the water are not a thing in Germany. Perhaps a bit of an overreaction after that drowning incident with an orca in the US many years ago... Though I guess if it wanted to, a dolphin can definitely be dangerous too. However in the USA they do show with dolphins and at Discovery Cove I have been pulled by them through the water twice :3 If you can afford it, definitely aim for Discovery Cove and it's "ultimate-animal-experience". Pricy (~550$ total incl. photos), but it is likely the best location for this.
What country do you live in? There is a number of locations that give the opportunity! ^w^ Hope you
Oh well, Europe is unfortunately not the best place in that regard, hence why I went to the US xD Mexico, Jamaica and Japan are other options... And they are likely more affordable. The 500$ are really the absolute deluxe package (but I thought since my flight is almost twice that, we go all in, lol).
Hey, who knows what the future brings!
Oh well, Europe is unfortunately not the best place in that regard, hence why I went to the US xD Me
