Discovering Dolphins - What Sam Sees

Hey everyone, I'm Sam and I'm in Baltimore, Maryland at the National Aquarium ready to learn about a super smart marine mammal that is surprisingly similar to humans. Dolphins. They're truly a fun and lovable creature. So let's go behind the scenes to learn more about them and the amazing people who care for them. The ocean is home to some of the most diverse and beautiful creatures, all moving in their own rhythm and pace. And dancing through the waves are the acrobats, court jesters, and aerial spinners of the sea. Dolphins. Today I get to go behind the scenes at the dolphin discovery exhibit in the National Aquarium. I'm meeting up with Susie Walker and her team to check out the dolphins daily routine. A typical day starts at 6 30 in the morning with breakfast. It takes the team two hours to sort and weigh 200 pounds of fish that make up the dolphins diet. They are fed every hour and a half, about 7 to 10 times a day. In addition to their diet, food is an important part of their learning through positive reinforcement. The trainers use food in a series of play and reward sessions to teach certain behaviors and build trust with the dolphins. Susie, can you tell me a little bit about what you do here at the aquarium? Sure. I am a trainer, so that means that I help take care of our animals. Another part of it is teaching them behaviors that help us take care of them, monitor their physical health. We can collect samples of blood or other things. Can you give me a little history on the dolphins that you have here? Sure. We have seven dolphins. Five of them are girls and two of them are boys. All of them except one were born here at Dolphin Discovery. One of them was born at another aquarium and we provided a new home for her when she needed a new home. All of these guys were born in human care. Let's head to the first training session of the day with Taylor. Do they keep that blowhole closed while they're underwater? Yes. A lot of times people think that the dolphins are breathing water, but what they're seeing is that water that's sitting on top moving out of the air. They breathe air just like you and I do. I love marine mammals. They're my favorite. Cetaceans, whales, porpoises, and dolphins. So right now, Chesapeake is our oldest dolphin and she's 25 years old. It makes a lot of fun sounds. She's our only dolphin that will blow a raspberry. Oh, what's that? Well, we'll have her show you. Okay. Whoa. So I see they have a lot of teeth. Do they use them? They actually use their teeth to catch the fish that they eat. When they close their teeth, their teeth interlock kind of like a nipple. Okay. And that traps the fish. Oh, okay. Notice if she's eating, they swallow their food whole. Dolphins learn by imitating their trainer's behaviors and gestures. And like dogs, they're always ready for a treat. Most of our water work is mimicry related and it's all based on relationship building. What do you mean by mimicry related? So we can do some mimics with her. You want to stand up? We'll spin in a circle one time and she'll follow us. Okay. Oh. Dolphins learn very quickly by mimicking each other as well as us. So when we do a very small like that, they're like, oh, hey, I can do that too. And that's really fun. And that's a great way for us to build a relationship with them and build trust. Okay. Take your right hand over here and give her a nice big wave. She'll wave back. And then one of our favorites, if you take your hand like this, hopefully she won't get us to it, might get a little bit. And then go ahead and slap the ledge. Good job. She's just very good at Wow. The exhibit opens to the public daily to let them see how dolphins learn, play and interact with each other. These sessions help educate visitors about dolphins. Now that I've seen them in action, I want to learn even more about their social behavior. So some of the social behaviors that you see here, would you see those also in the ocean? Yes. They're very touchy, touchy animals, and that's kind of how they bond with each other. So they'll rub their flippers along each other's bodies. They'll whistle and click to communicate with each other. They're very social with each other. Correct. Yes. So they like to remain in pods, you would say? Correct. Yes. A typical pod size for a bottlenose dolphin is going to be a few individuals to maybe 20. Whereas something like another species called a spinner dolphin, it's not unusual to see 100 or 200 of them in a group at a time. So each, each species is a little different. And do they work together when they're in pods? Yes, absolutely. Yes, they look out for each other. If they're resting, they don't completely sleep like we do. They sleep with one eye closed. They sleep with one eye closed? That's so funny. What's interesting is we believe that they sleep with one half of their brain at a time. What? So they're never completely asleep. Why do they do that? If you think about it, when you're out in the ocean and you're kind of looking around, you got to keep your eyes open. You don't want to have both your eyes closed. You could run into something. Yeah. Do they use echolocation in pods? What is echolocation? Echolocation is a way for them to find their way around if water is either dark or murky. Okay. So what they do is they make these clicking sounds. They go out into the water in front of them and they bounce off things in their path. So the click bounces and then the dolphin can listen to the echo. So they can kind of see through sound. Wow. So what's a lifelong plan here for your dolphins? Well, currently our plan is to find a brand new home for them. Okay. After careful consideration, the National Aquarium has decided to build and relocate their dolphin colony to a more naturalistic seaside sanctuary. And what's going to be neat about this new home is that it will be in an ocean type habitat. Do dolphins in the wild face any threats right now? Yes. Pretty much every ocean animal out there. Our oceans are in trouble. So we are trying to figure out how we can help. We like to share our animals here at Dolphin Discovery with our guests. So we think about our dolphins as ambassadors for their species. So they are sort of being the voice for their kind out in the ocean. Well, thank you for sharing this experience with me. You're welcome. Yes, my pleasure. We learned so much about dolphins today. Like they sleep with one eye open, keeping half of their brain running. Dolphins are so important to our marine ecosystem. They provide clues about the health and safety of other ocean creatures, as well as humans. They also see through sound using echolocation, which helps them better navigate through the oceans. And the dolphins that we met here today serve as ambassadors for dolphins all over the world. So please be sure to take care of our oceans. See you next time on What Sam Sees.