Things I Learned from Nellie

Nellie, a 61-year old bottle-nosed dolphin resident of Marineland Florida, passed away a few days ago. In light of this recent event, I don't know if anyone will be surprised that the topic of this blog covers an animal known well by many.  

I can't get the photo I based this painting on off of my hard drive because I lost the cable, so here's a photo of a painting of a photo I took of Nellie.  Womp womp.

I had the honor of working with and getting to know Nellie for a period of about five years.  I've written about Nellie's 58th birthday, which gives you a little insight into what it was like to work with her while I was actually still at Marineland.  That post was written over three years ago.  Since learning of Nellie's passing, I had time to really reflect on what it was that she really did as an individual and as an icon.

Obviously, there are lessons to be learned from someone like Nellie. I normally like to organize my blog in a better way. I decided I was just going to write down what I've been thinking about over the past few days, and serve it up to you, this tribute to a very special dolphin.

For those of you who do not know, 61 is really old for this particular species of dolphin.  It's essentially equivalent to a human reaching 120, which I plan on doing because I figure there are a lot of perks to getting really, really old.  For example, you can act senile and put your car in reverse on the highway but you don't have to BE senile, but everyone just assumes that's the case and just gets out of your way.  

You can also get away with just about anything when you're old and really sweet; a fact that did not seem to miss Nellie.  

Another photo of a painting of a photo I took (and painted...now I'm confused).

Of course, there are some differences when it comes to old human ladies versus old dolphin ladies.  Luckily, I have real life examples to illustrate this point.

Human example:

It's okay! She's 100!

I was driving home from work one day and decided to stop by Publix (you know, the best grocery store ever).  So I'm in there, buying afternoon donuts, and I literally remember thinking "This place is packed! Everyone is busy.  And everyone is cranky!"  People (the customers, not the staff) were just being snappy and rude.  I wanted to get the heck out of there, so I put my head down, bought my sugary goodness, and made a beeline for my car.   There were a few people behind me; three middle-aged women who were complaining about something.  I kept a brisk pace so I could make it to my car and avoid the weird, snarky tension in the area.

Behold! 

I noticed a car pulling out in reverse from its parking spot.  It became clear quickly that the driver had no idea that I was behind said vehicle, so I ran backwards to avoid the black Cadillac sedan as it steadily backed into another car. 

CRASH! Tinkle tinkle tinkle.*  I stood motionless, mouth agape, as I watched the old woman driver of the vehicle continue to look straight forwards, totally not reacting to what just happened.  Then, she put the car in drive and drove at the same steady speed back into her parking space.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" one of the middle-aged women asked me.

I assured them I was, and then I heard it.

The man whose car had been crunched ran out of Publix, unintentionally ('though uncannily) doing his best impression of a lowland gorilla who had enough command of the English language to create colorful expletives AND wear a nice tie. 

"WHAT THE %*#%!!!!!!!" he exclaimed, tie flapping as he ran towards his car.

I looked over at the old woman in the car, terrified for her.  Not that the man didn't have the right to be upset that his car was hit, but the woman inside appeared to be so ancient and small, I didn't feel it was right to be aggressively cruel to her.

I CAN AND WILL GET AWAY WITH WHATEVER MAYHEM I SO PLEASE

As the man approached her car, I winced, bracing for what I was sure to be a really awful interaction. 

The door of the Cadillac opened slowly, and the old lady struggled to get out of the car.  She was about five foot tall and looked to be about 9 zillion years old.  Her coke bottle classes made her eyes look huge and she was majorly hunched over.  She turned to face her would-be verbal assailant, placed her hands in a dramatic, sweeping gesture on her hips and said,

"Allllllllright! What'd I hit?"

The man actually stopped in his tracks.  Oh, this old woman had swiftly disarmed any Angriness ready to explode all over her and turned the man into a kind, thoughtful person.  He gently approached her and said, "Oh, you hit my car, but it isn't that bad.  Are you okay?"

"I hit your CAR? Well, that explains the awful sound!" she said.  "How about you call my son, he can take care of this.  I'm not supposed to even be here, ya know."

Of course, this story would've had a different income had the old woman been a 23 year old hipster kid with a confused mohawk thing (like, you know how they are like shaving the sides of their head? Is that still a mohawk? I am so unhip) or a 40 year old stock broker.   It's even possible that the old woman was just out to cause trouble, and chose to back into an expensive car and then act like she had no clue thank you very much.  If she did, her age let her get away with it.  Tee hee. :)

This is but a facade of innocence

Dolphin example:

Nellie was a very healthy animal for the entire time I worked with her (ages 54 to two months before her 60th birthday).  But none of us are spared ALL of the effects of getting really old, and the only hint anyone would have that Nellie was way over the hill was her eyesight.  She developed vision problems related to old age, but that didn't slow her down at all (more on this later).  And of course, she was able to navigate just find because she could use her echolocation.  With a few small adjustments in our training, Nellie's day was very much like all of the other dolphins'.  And that included how many new behaviors she was learning, and what kinds of sessions she had the opportunity to participate in.

Nellie and her son, chillin'

So one day, I was scheduled to do a program with a group of dolphins that included Nellie.  The program involved allowing a small group of guests to go into the water up to their waist for their interaction.  I chose to hang out with Nellie.

Her interactive programs were pretty solid.  She didn't do as many as the younger dolphins, but she seemed to have no problems with the shallow-water and dry guest sessions (and she'd let you know when she didn't want to participate because....she wouldn't participate).   I was excited to get some in-water time with Nellie, and thought if she was up for it, it'd be great to introduce her to some guests, because everyone who met her remembered her.

However, a few minutes into the program it was clear Nellie was not going to meet any guests.  I brought a pool noodle out with me with the intention of using it as enrichment with Nellie, but I didn't really know how much she'd play with it.  Luckily for me, Nellie solved this mystery.  The second I put the noodle into the water, she grabbed on to it and started very, very slowly swimming up and down the underwater ledge.  And she essentially walked me like a dog.

Pool noodles: not just for older lady humans anymore.

Of course, there are behavioral decisions to make in situations like this, mostly involving waiting until the animal stops doing what you don't want him or her to do, and then moving on.  But Nellie was over 500 pounds, and she was 56 years old at the time.  By gosh by golly, that noodle was the focus of her attention and it was certainly better than her swimming off and not participating at all in the session.   

So I decided to let her walk me up and down the ledge.  She never once pulled or jerked the noodle, either.  If I stopped, she'd stop, but wouldn't let go.  Then she'd slowly start to swim, and if she felt any tension on the noodle, she'd stop for a few seconds, then try to go again.

Eventually, she let go of the noodle and re-focused.  We were able to do a full session, although she didn't really seem into the fish.  She was clearly really into the noodle.  So I fed her what I could, and then used the noodle as reinforcement for desirable behavior, including allowing the guests to play with her using the object of her affection.

The entire time this session is going on I'm thinking, "Nellie totally knows what she's doing.  She knows she can get away with this, because she's so old."

I'm pretty sure Nellie thought my mom was one of many personal massage therapists in her life

But then I realized what I was saying.  I was really saying that...I was "letting" Nellie choose her reinforcement in a session because she was old.  Wait, wait, wait, something seems wrong with that, doesn't it?  It should have little to nothing to do with age; this technique ought to be applied to everyone.  

And hence, a lesson from Nellie was learned: you can't assume you know what's motivating to an animal just because they "need" it (like food, for example).  You SHOULD let the animal show you what is more motivating.  If Nellie was super into the noodle, it was irrelevant that she was so old; I should read the signs and use whatever they're into to reinforce and motivate.  That session with Nellie opened my eyes to my sessions with other dolphins; no more broad assumptions.  And even if Nellie was using her charming senescence to get her way, who cares?  The bigger lesson was what was important.

One can always count on a cat to scold one. 

Another lesson I learned was how the power of one can reach an exponentially larger group of people in a way you wouldn't believe.  You might roll your eyes at me being kind of sappy, but I'm totally serious.  People knew Nellie.  She wasn't the only dolphin there who had a big fan club, but everyone at least knew of her.  People involved in the animal training field knew her.  Guests dating back from her BIRTH in 1953 (Nellie was older than my parents, by the way) remembered her.  Jacksonville University made Nellie their mascot, for crying out loud.  That dolphin made a huge impact on people.

Why can't real cake be like that?

Why?  I don't know for sure, but she got a lot of media exposure because of her age.  She was the oldest dolphin in human care for around 30 years.   She was a beautiful dolphin, and easily recognizable.  And one of the sweetest things about her was her friendship to Lilly Champagne.

This chick has great trainer hair.  Sigh.  

Lilly was an Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, but with a rare skin color.  She was a blonde (hence the name " Champagne").  She came to Marineland when she was 6 years old with massive shark bite wounds to her eye and her side; scars that she still bore almost 50 years later when I first met her.    

You can see the shark bite over her eye, but she was still gorgeous

Lilly deserves a Middle Flipper post all to herself, so I'll just say that she was Nellie's closest companion for decades.  Decades.  And people knew about the friendship; they commented on it constantly.   When Lilly passed away (she was in her 50s), Marineland received condolences for Nellie.  People wanted to know, would Nellie be okay now that her best friend had gone?

Blond jokes do not apply to blond dolphins, that I know.

Their friendship (I can feel all the purists ethologists bristling at my diction, but give me a break) was another major lesson to a broad audience: it made people care about dolphins.  While I can go off on a 67,000 page tangent on why this is unfortunate, people tend to only care about animals if they can relate to them.  That isn't me saying that there aren't a lot of similarities between humans and other animals, but that's not the topic of this particular blog.   

For all of the varied opinions out there on the matter, it is an undeniable fact that the laymen really, really opens their hearts to animals they previously cared NOTHING for if they can see a little of themselves in them.  Nellie and Lilly's bond was a strong example of a way human beings could relate to them.  Sure, the bond between mother and calf made sense.  Maybe even between family members, or really young dolphins hanging out with other young dolphins.  

BAHHH SO CUTE

Nellie and Lilly, human edition

But two little old ladies (okay, they were like 500 pounds)? Who've been friends since they were young, and now spent their twilight years together?  That really got people's attention.  It presented opportunities for a dialogue with our guests: yes, old lady dolphins are documented having decades-long friendships (just check out Randy Wells' research off the coast of Sarasota, FL).  The bond was so special that Marineland for a while had Nellie and Lilly as their logo.  

Isn't that awesome?

Nellie's long life set the bar for our industry.  She didn't reach 61 because she was poorly taken care of, or because she'd been suffering for years and years.  Of course, we can't all live to be 100.  But certainly poor quality of life is not an ingredient to reaching an extreme age.  Nonetheless, Nellie's title as "oldest dolphin in human care" helped set the standards for dolphin care starting in the 1980s.  Now, dolphins are reaching their life expectancy and beyond with consistency.   

And we turn our attention to the healthy wild populations....and the unhealthy ones, the ones whose average life expectancy is 12.  Twelve years old.  What is happening out there?  Disease, direct and indirect results of human pollution via the waterways.   We know bottle-nosed dolphins are capable of living into their 40s, 50s, and 60s if their bodies let them paired with a good quality of life.  We've set the standard for dolphins in human care, now let's set that standard BACK to where it ought to be out in the wild.  

There are countless people (and I'm sure some dolphins) mourning the loss of Nellie.  It's not to say it came as a surprise, in the same way we are not "surprised" when an elderly family member or friend passes away.  But at the same time, with people or animals who get to extremely old ages, you know in your head the end is inevitable.  But it never seems around the corner, either.  Nellie lived a long, strong life and influenced more lives than - well let's be honest with ourselves - most of us ever will.   And we ought to be very grateful to her for that.  

And to all of the other geriatric animals out there, teaching the same lessons and touching the same hearts, this post is for you, too.  Nellie was one of an elite group of elder animals who awe and inspire their caretakers, guests, and the general public.  For those of you who have or had the privilege of knowing animals like Nellie, never take that for granted.

In loving memory.

Nellie's birth

_____________

* The sound of glass breaking, not someone peeing

What Happens When I Travel For Work

I recently had an incredible opportunity to do a trainer exchange of sorts at a Popular Aquarium in San Diego.  I had been looking forward to this trip for several reasons:

1) It was a great Professional Development Opportunity (PDO)

2) It was in San Diego

3) It is always awesome to see how other facilities do their thang

4) It was in San Diego

5) It allowed me to see family I don't normally get to see

6) ....it was in San Diego

If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me

So I guess you could say, I sort of like California.

Lots of people travel for work, and when they do, it never seems to result in strange happenings.  Wait, I take that back.  My dad has had some pretty insane stories (mostly traveling around the Middle East).  So perhaps I inherited the Misadventure Gene from my dad as it pertains to professional excursions.

While I'll briefly touch on the trainer exchange (because it inspired another Middle Flipper post I'll do next week!), I'd like to in full discretion share with you some of the experiences.  "Colorful" experiences.  Ones that show my bizarre luck and my hopeless space cadetedness.

I'd known about this trip for a month.  When I received the itinerary in my work email, I was excited that while it wasn't a very long trip, it was long enough for me to do my PDO and spend a little time with my aunt and uncle.  I immediately told them the dates I'd be in town and I planned to pack in as much wildlife viewing as I could the two day trip as I could.  When the work schedule came out for the upcoming weeks, I eagerly anticipated the week where it had my name and "San Diego" written next to it for Wednesday and Thursday.  My boss was kind enough to ask me if I wanted to come in late on Friday, since I wasn't getting in to Pensacola until late at night.  I was smitten and totally jazzed.

Indeed

I arrived in San Diego late Tuesday night with minor drama.  I had the privilege and honor to eavesdrop on a very tense phone conversation a young woman was having with a nameless victim about how awful her traveling experience had been.  FIRST, she didn't know they didn't serve MEALS on planes.  SECOND, the plane she was about to get on didn't even have WIFI.  

"Can you &%*ing believe this?" she asked her phone.  Pause.  "It's like, I expect to have wifi.  I mean, with all that's going wrong on this plane, do you think that's like a sign it's going to crash?"

After I landed, I walked outside to wait for the shuttle bus to take me to the Rental Car Place.  It took a while to get there, but the evening was so nice and um, hello, I WAS IN SAN DIEGO, so I didn't care.  When the shuttle finally arrived, I was about third in line.  The woman who lead the way was struggling to get all of her bags consolidated, but the rest of us patiently waited for her to fix her stuff so she could get on the bus.  She was after all, first in line.

She turned to the man behind her. "Oh, you don't have to wait for me! This will take awhile.  Go ahead."

So he did.

And she was still dancing with her luggage when it was my turn to get on, so I walked onto the bus.

All of a sudden, I hear from behind me, "Okay I didn't mean EVERYONE*! But WHATEVER!"  

Starring...the woman at Rental Car Place

Afraid for my life, I bolted for the back of the bus and tried to hide in a corner as best as I could.  When we arrived at the Rental Car Place, the Luggage Grumpy Lady got off first and was first to be helped, which meant I got to listen to her say things like:

"What do you MEAN, do I have car insurance?  Of COURSE I don't, that's why I bought insurance through you guys!"

But somehow, I made it through the evening without making anyone else angry and I made it safely to my aunt and uncle's house (but not before setting off motion sensor lights and waking up people in a house I THOUGHT was my aunt and uncles but uh, wasn't).

The next morning, I got up really early so I could go to Del Mar Heights to enjoy the scenery and hopefully find some dolphins surfing the waves.  I spent about an hour there, enjoying the view and writing in my journal.  And I did these things while I consumed my Daily Caffeinated Beverages and a liter of water.  By the time I needed to leave to make sure I got to Popular Aquarium with plenty of time, I was really feeling the caffeine and sheer massive quantity of water I'd consumed.

Yes.

"I'll drive to Popular Aquarium, then I'll find a place to stop," I told my bladder.

"Alright," it replied.  "But you better drive fast."

You know how it is when you have to be somewhere at a certain time, and you're nervous and excited, and it's for work, and you just have no clue how long it's going to take to get to a place so you leave really, really, early?  And you drive really fast?  That's basically what I did, so I rolled up to Popular Aquarium with lots of time to spare with a bladder that was now at critical mass.  

"DO SOMETHING!!!!!!" my bladder yelled.

"Okay okay! I'll find a gas station somewhere!" I said.

"JUST GO TO POPULAR AQUARIUM THEY HAVE BATHROOMS THERE RIGHT?" said bladder.

"I'm not going to show up and the first impression they have of me is me peeing my pants!"

So I zoomed towards Ocean Beach, the hippie capital of San Diego county, and ran into the first gas station I found. 

"WHERE IS YOUR BATHROOM?" my bladder and I yelled in unison towards the attendant.

"Oh honey," she replied, clearly empathizing with my obvious urgency.  "They are out of order."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" my bladder said.

"Thank you haveanicedaybye," I said as I hobbled as quickly as I could to my car.

"THIS IS IT!" bladder yelled.  "THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO DIE."

WAHH IT'S SO TRUE

I pealed out of the parking lot and raced towards a public park I'd seen on my way in.  And public parks meant public bathrooms, which at the time sounded like a great idea.

At this point I couldn't even sit up in my seat correctly, so I parked the car in a way that would leave police officers confused and scuffled into the bathroom, tears welling in my eyes as I realized that Bladder and I had triumphed against nature and soon all would be well and good in the Universe.

BLOP! BLAAAAHHHRRRPP BLOP BLOP!

The sound of gastrointestinal despair shook me out of my momentary bliss and delivered unto me a sight I could not unsee.  And to spare you the gruesome details dear readers, let's just say I shared this bathroom with another older patron who felt free enough in the world to deposit Mother Nature's gifts into the proper receptacle, but with the door wide open. 

I wanted to run away and find another bathroom.

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" Bladder declared, and took control of my nervous system and forced me to walk into a stall.

You know how the rest of this goes, because I'm sure you've experienced this sweet, sweet relief before.  And it erased the horror of the vision of my bathroom neighbor, and I could once again feel excited about my day meeting and working with new trainers.

The woman down the way began to make sounds, like maybe she could need medical attention for whatever ailed her.  

"Come on, bladder, let's hurry this up!" I said.  "I don't want to be in here anymore."

"You will leave when I'm good and ready," Bladder replied.

Groan, groan, groan, wailing, more wailing echoed through the dingy, cement public bathroom.  I began to feel bad for her when all of a sudden the groans became moans of passion. 

"No," I reasoned with myself.  "This woman could not possibly be doing what it sounds like she is now doing."

But the moans became louder and louder until it was clear my Potty Pal was not answering the call of nature but was

We interrupt this program to bring you a delightful scene of sea lion pups

Whoops, sorry, this is supposed to be PG.  And my intention was to never force you to experience all the delightful details.  Suffice it to say, the woman's lewd actions and sounds were enough to make my Bladder see reason and I was able to get out of there at warp speed.

After such a colorful experience early in my trip, I was very relieved to have a fantastic day working with many passionate and dedicated trainers.  Of course, I'm lucky because the team I work with is equally as wonderful, but there is something really special about going to a place unfamiliar and sharing a common love for animals and animal care.   But like I said, that wonderful, amazing part of my trip is the muse for next week's blog, so make sure you tune in then.

I met up with my aunt and uncle later in the evening, and we had a wonderful dinner right on the water in Cardiff.  I got to meet my uncle's hilarious Turkish friend, and we enjoyed amazing seafood and yummy wine.  It was a great end to a great day...even though it started with an unusual experience.

The next day, I got up even earlier because I had to leave for the airport midday, and I wanted to check out the seals and sea lions at La Jolla and I wanted to spend a couple more hours at Popular Aquarium before I absolutely had to leave.

Seal pups!!!!!!

I got to see a zillion sea lions and seals, and enjoy the majesty that is La Jolla Cove and Children's Pool.  Man, the people who live in that area are so lucky!  I watched with childlike awe as a couple of dudes did their morning laps in the cove with sea lions chasing their feet!  Right, right, I know what all of you pinniped trainers are thinking: That sounds like the most horrifying experience ever and sea lion bites are not like, the most fun thing ever.  But it hasn't deterred people from doing their regular workouts out there, and it seemed as though they left the animals alone (but due to a loophole in the federal law, the Marine Mammal Protection Act does not protect humans against harassment from marine mammals).

A person just you know, swimming laps while sea lions buzz around him

I spent the morning with the Popular Aquarium trainers, and around 11:15 it was time for me to get ready to head out.  I said my goodbyes, and texted a good friend of mine: "I wish I didn't have to leave!"  Even though I knew I was going back to an awesome place and a job I completely adore.

I realized though, that I had just enough time to check out one show.  The sea lion show was starting, so I headed over.  I found a spot high in the stands so I could see the entire stage, knowing I'd get inspired for our own sea lion show.  But all the while I was walking to the stadium, walking up the stairs to my seat, and while I waited for the show to start, I'd been trying to check in for my flight on my phone.

The internet connection was bad, so I thought that was the reason I could not find the "check-in" button on the website.  I changed my seat.  I looked at my itinerary.  But I couldn't check it.  That stressed me out a little, because I like getting that kind of thing done long in advance, but I knew I had plenty of time.  So I relaxed and enjoyed the sea lion show, which was hilarious and creative.

...but I'm still freaking out about my flight

By the time I'd reached my car, which I'd parked on the polar opposite end of where I exited, I was sweating and freaked out because Siri wasn't listening to me and giving me directions to the Rental Car Place and I was terrified of missing my flight.  I hit a little bit of traffic too, and had to wait in line to get gas for the car before I could return it.  By the time I got to the lot, I only had about 40 minutes before my flight was supposed to take off.  OH GOD.

I returned my car, trying to fend off the very friendly attendant who wanted to tell me about hey, he has a friend named Cat! But her name is Catherine.  Is my name Catherine?  Right on! That's crazy! He has a friend named Cat! But her name is Catherine! She is really nice!

I peeled away from my new friend and got on the bus, now totally dripping with sweat and convinced I was going to miss my flight.  More and more people piled on, NO! LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO! I screamed in my head.

We pulled into the airport about 15 minutes later, and I ran off the bus not realizing I was in the wrong terminal.  Visions of the MacCallister family running desperately through the halls of O'Hare to get to their flight to France filled my brain as I tried to locate the American Airlines counter.  But, again not realizing I was in the wrong part of the airport, I hit a dead end and started swearing out loud.

There I am!

Then, I saw the ticket kiosks, glowing in the sunlight.  I quickly punched in my information, knowing that I could make this flight if only I just got my boarding pass NOW and not LATER.  The screen brought up my itinerary, then flashed off.

"WHAT???" I said out loud.  I hit the side of the computer.  "What happened?? WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

A little slip of paper shot at my hands.

I snatched it up.  It read:

"We like that you're early! But please check in no earlier than 24 hours before your flight! Thank you for choosing American Airlines."

I stared at the sassy message for an eternity.  WTF? I'd never gotten the message before.

Ain't nothin' sassier than a...bratwurst?

I looked back at the computer, which now displayed the home screen.  I looked back down at the paper and saw it.

The departure date.

It was for the next day.  

A wave of shame and embarrassment swept over me.  How could I have missed this?! For a month, I was convinced I was leaving on Tuesday night, and coming home Thursday night.  And this little sarcastic sheet of paper a computer tossed at me said, "No Cat, you hopeless blond.  You go home FRIDAY."

Point taken, good sir!

I called my boss and explained the situation, about how I'd clearly never learned to read properly, how I'd already returned the rental car, and how I just can't think of any way that he'd ever let me live this moment down unless he experienced some kind of major head trauma such as decapitation.  Luckily for me, my boss is awesome, so he thought it was hilarious and said, "Well, looks like you get a few extra hours to enjoy yourself!"

It took me a while to get a shuttle back to the Rental Car Place, and then I waited in line for about 40 minutes only to walk up to the clerk and (I'm not making this up) introduce myself as, "Hi, I'm probably the dumbest customer you're going to have all day."  

I explained the situation.

"Oh," he said, very seriously.  "Don't worry, you're definitely not the dumbest person I've had all day."

I am even dumber than these people

I eventually got a car.  I debated going back for more trainer exchange fun, but it was later in the day.  So I decided to pack my remaining evening and early morning with two whale-watching trips, where I saw long-beaked common dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, gray whales, and more sea lions.  It was the only thing I could do to distract myself from my ridiculous oversight.  

A long-beaked common dolphin with her calf!! We saw over 1000 of these guys!! IT WAS AMAZING

Extra hours meant extra pup photos!

An hour before I had to drop of my car on the CORRECT date, I got to see a pod of these guys!

And luckily for me, the remaining hours of my trip did not involve strange people in bathrooms, and I did make my correct flights on Friday, and I connected and was inspired by an entire staff of trainers, so all in all I'd say it was a winning trip.  

And that's what happens when I travel for work.

_____________

* There were a few choice words here, but this blog is intended for PG audiences

A Birthday Special: Lily and the Palm Frond

Today (Sunday, April 20th) is a special day, and not just for those of you who celebrate Easter.

Today is Lily the dolphin's 11th birthday!  In fact, 11 years ago today was Easter on the day Lily was born, hence the Easter-y name.

It's my birthdaaaaayyyyy

So in light of this event, I'd like to share with you a recent experience I had with Lily and her mother, Delilah.  

I need to set this up for you, though.  A few days ago, three trainers from another marine mammal facility came to visit.  It just so happened that one of them was a dear friend of mine with whom I'd worked at another place.  The other two trainers I had seen or knew of via the Interweb, but I hadn't officially met.  

I'm always psyched to meet new trainers from other places, because I love expanding my network.  Not just to be like, "Hey I have 3 more Facebook friends", but because it's awesome to share ideas and experiences.  It's one thing to have a great team of trainers on your staff, but it's also a good idea to respect and admire trainers at other places.  

However, it is a little intimidating, no matter how wonderful they are, to have visiting trainers watch you in session.   Why? For me, it's because I don't want to look like an animal training idiot.  And like this particular situation I'm talking about, the visiting trainers were not at all judgmental.  So it was nothing they did that make me nervous.  It was just the fact that people from another place were there, watching me to some extent.  And when that happens, I act like I'm being watched by the Grand Supreme Trainer On High.   

I'm sure the animals sense it when I'm like this.  They are like, "WTF is wrong with Cat? Why does she have that look in her eye?"  Or with animals who can probably hear my heart racing, they are probably like, "WHY DOES THIS APE LOOK LIKE SHE'S HAVING A CORONARY?  SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO EAT US, ISN'T IT???"

YES

I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you know what I'm getting at.  So the very last session these particular trainers watched was our afternoon dolphin show with Lily and Delilah.   I had Lily, and was ready for a great show.  

Let me tell you about our birthday girl.  She is adorable, and very bright.  And while I'd argue most animals have minds of their own*, there are different levels of this.  On the continuum of Animal Mindedness, Lily falls here:

|_______________________________________|_________________________________x___|

Steady Eddy                                                  Half 'n Half                                             Einstein

Yeah, she's pretty sharp

  

Lily also is sensitive to change, which occasionally creates challenging training scenarios.  For example, when I first started working with her, I got in the water knowing that she hadn't really had much exposure to people swimming with her if they didn't have dive gear on.  So I took it slow, doing everything I knew was considered effective active desensitization while trying to build a relationship with her.  I read her behavior to make sure I wasn't pushing her too fast, nor coddling her too much.  And the session was going really, really well with a lot of progress.

And then my watched beeped underwater.

Oh, that was it.  Lily couldn't handle it, this Temporarily Terrifying Thing (or Triple T).  She raced around the habitat; one tiny little beep the trigger of so much anxiety.  Of course, it didn't take her long to realize this beep wasn't a harbinger of bad tidings, but simply symbolic of: 1) the elapsed hour and 2) my inability to figure out how to turn the sound off of my Wal-Mart watch.

BEWARE THE SINGLE BEEP

Anyways, you get the picture.  So back to the story.  I was standing on our floating docks, ready for a great show with one of the best dolphins I've known.  She was really attentive, had perfect control and bright eyes.  The show started off really great, actually.  My nervousness of being observed by Other Trainers quickly dissipated and I found myself lost in my session with Lily, which of course is exactly what you ought to do when working with animals.  She was playing with her football, she was emitting her behaviors to great criteria, and she was really tactile-motivated.  These were all the makings for a great Lily show.

Suddenly, Lily's attention faltered.  She began sitting off to the side; a sign that you're losing your animal's attention.  Instead of begging her to focus on me, I just let her choose her path.  If she wanted to leave to check something out (or race around the habitat in protest of a Triple T like a watch beep), then she could do that.  If she wanted to continue with the show, she could return to criteria control.  But she did neither of these things.  She remained in Lily Limbo, one eye on me, her mouth slightly open, and the other eye on some mysterious and as yet unseen Thing.  

What Thing have you detected?

I heard one of our underwater platforms make some noise that I hadn't heard before.  Thinking back to the watch, you can deduce that new and sudden sounds were not Lily's cup of tea.  "Oh," I thought.  "It's the platform.  I'll just do some active desense and she'll be fine in a few minutes."  

As I am deep in thought and training, I see one of our new trainers in the A-B position we have for each show (acting as a safety spotter and to provide variability for the dolphins) signaling to get my attention.  She was stationed across the habitat, and with the noise from the crowd and the show narrator's microphone, it was difficult for me to hear her.

I looked up.  She pointed at the sunglasses on top of her head, then pointed in the water.

Oh NO! I thought.  My sunglasses fell in.  I felt for them on my head, and didn't feel them.  My panic was only interrupted by the logical thought that of course I wouldn't feel them on my head, they were currently in use on my face.

I looked back at the A-B trainer and shook my head.

She pointed again at her sunglasses, then in the water.  

Oh NO! I thought.  My sunglasses croakies fell in the water!!!

No! The A-B trainer signaled to me.  She pointed more dramatically at HER head, then back down to the water below where she was standing.

Oh! I got it, I thought.  The A-B trainer dropped HER croakies in the water.  No problem.  Lily and Delilah will both bring us random things from their habitat in return for a reward of some kid.   I asked Lily for the retrieval behavior, which she responded to zealously.  She swam directly to where the A-B trainer had signaled the fallen croakies had gone.

The subject of our problem

And then, Lily was gone.

She circled around and around the object, coming up only for a breath.  

It's worth mentioning at this point that because these dolphins have a long history of bringing back objects to their trainers (like park maps, palm fronds, their own toys, and the occasional random item dropped by a person or a sea bird), I wasn't worried about Lily's safety with the croakies.  While I tried to get her attention back so that she could leave the item alone AND we could finish the rest of the show AND so I could eventually get in and get whatever was down there, Lily was too fixated on the newest toy in her habitat.

The A-B trainer looked at me.  I was able to hear her say something like, "Is Lily cruising**?"

I was initially perplexed at this question, because I thought what was going on was clear.  The trainer dropped her croakies, I asked Lily to go get it, and Lily opted to examine the croakies from every angle possible instead of bringing them back to me.

I replied, "Yes, I sent her on retrieval to get your croakies!"

"No," the trainer replied.  "Croakies didn't fall in."

Now I was thoroughly confused.  It wasn't easy to have an in-depth conversation without trying to shout over the narrator and look like a panhandler yelling to passing cars, but I wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on.

"What fell in?" I said loudly.

"A guest's sunglasses!" she said.    And then I saw a guest waving sheepishly right above the trainer's head.  "Sorry!" the guest mouthed.

I think he dropped his sunglasses, too

At this point, the show was almost over, but Lily did decide to come join the fun for the last few behaviors.  She was still very distracted, but when you have two dolphins in a show and you actually have, well, two dolphins present with their trainers the show when there's a fun fun play thing they'd rather have because they can trade it for prizes later, you take that as a win.

Prizes!

Regardless, I knew I needed to get the sunglasses out since Lily was just content to stare at them instead of bring them back.   Getting the sunglasses out meant I needed to get in the water, dive down and get them.   That part was going to be fun, because who doesn't like swimming with dolphins?  I had these great ideas about how to make it a fun session.  Someone would have Lily at station while I got the glasses, but then once that was done, I could work on her footpush! I could dive underwater with her! I could work on her mimic sequence!

And then the reality of the situation struck me.

That day was pretty cold for this time of the year, so I was wearing a rash guard and wind pants.  I had a bathing suit on underneath, but that was it.  It's been fuh-reezing here, so I've been bundled up for the past several months.  What does that mean?  Ladies and gentlemen, that means my the only part of my legs that has seen sunlight is the top of my feet.  The rest of me is as white as the driven snow.  You can measure the brightness of my white legs in candlepower.  You could go cave-spelunking by the sun's reflection on my tanless gams.

This song was actually written about my skin color

And now I was in a position where I needed to take off my pants.  In front of a Spring Break-sized crowd.  And....

...the visiting trainers.

Oh, if this was a safety scenario (trust me, it wasn't), I wouldn't have given a hoot about my Edward Cullen legs.  I would've gone in with whatever I had to get whatever out.  But in this case, it was just making sure we got the glasses out in a timely fashion.  And so I had time to think about ruining 300 people's vacation by dropping trousers.

The other trainer and I briefly ended our session after the show ended while the A-B trainer stood and watched the fallen glasses to make sure they didn't get swept away in the current.   I had to get a mask to make sure I could quickly find the glasses and see the dolphins, but the mask wasn't far away.  As I made my way towards the mask, I saw the visiting trainers and was about to warn them to cover their eyes before I took my pants off.  But out of the corner of my eye, I see Delilah.  And she's pushing something through the water.

The sunglasses!  Good ol' Delilah, always ready to bring something over.  She'll find ANYTHING to swap out for a snack.  The tiniest leaf could fall in her habitat, and I swear she stores that stuff somewhere and pulls it out for a rainy day.  This time though, she had a legit item.   Maybe in her eternal dolphin wisdom, she figured the guest who lost the sunglasses was in a real bind.  If I had to bare my blinding white legs to the world, she'd be better off wearing sunglasses.  Unfortunately for her, the reason I'd have to get down to my bathing suit was because her sunglasses were, um, inaccessible.  I'd like to think Delilah put that all together, but I know it was more likely that she saw it as a business transaction.

Delilah, the business woman, is on top

The other trainer and I ran back down onto the docks to receive Delilah.  We briefly discussed the exchange rate for a pair of sunglasses and decided it was a luxury item.  As Delilah swam at the surface towards us, the avian sunglasses perched carefully on her rostrum, Lily saddling up along side of her....with an item for barter.  As if she could not come to us empty-handed, Lily arrived at the docks at the same time Delilah did.  But instead of handing me a pair of sunglasses, Lily instead gave me a dried-out palm frond.  I laughed.  The second I took the leaf out of her mouth, she popped up to a perfect station, as if to say, "It's no sunglasses, but I did good, right??" 

Lily's contribution to the debacle

After the session was over, I talked about it with the visiting trainers.  They laughed along side of me, reminding me that no matter what facility you work at, everyone understands situations like this.  We all share in the funny and unplanned moments; we don't need to worry about being judged by others.  We should take comfort in knowing that other people out there know exactly what you're experiencing.  So we laughed and opined on what might've been going through Lily's head.  One of the trainers mentioned she thought she'd seen Lily go down and touch the sunglasses as if she was going to retrieve them, but then freaked herself out.  

I admired Lily's tenacity in that situation.  While she apparently was too skeeved to touch the glasses (perhaps another Triple T in Lily's world), she couldn't let her mother show her up when she saved the day (or at least, people's vision).  Seeing both mother and daughter cruise into station with their own little item, perfect fits for their personalities, made me so happy.  And we all laughed a lot, too.

Good job, Lil.  Way to not give up, and at least try to do something similar to what you couldn't quite bring yourself to do.  Your mom has thirty more years of experience than you do at these kinds of things, but one day I'm sure you'll be as fearless and steady as she.  But in the meantime, keep your spark and sass.  And have a great 11th birthday!

Delilah and Lily, the dynamic duo!

______

* This does not include my dog

** Our term for when an animal has left station, not when they're in a Porsche driving down the highway listening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the wind blowing through their hair (or barren hair follicles, for dolphins).