A huge part of the marine mammal internship is learning about and caring for the manatees! The Seas is home to 2 West Indian Manatees, Lil Joe and Lou. We are a manatee rehabilitation center, which means both of our manatees are rescued and we hope to eventually release them back into the wild. Lou was rescued after a boat strike accident and Lil Joe was originally rescued as an orphan. Usually the interns cover the manatee stage. We are there to feed the manatees, make behavioral observations, answer guest questions, and make sure that both the guests and the manatees remain safe. We also give spiels twice an hour (unless another presentation is happening) where we talk for about 10 minutes on microphone about manatees.
My spiel begins by introducing the manatees and I talk about how to tell the difference between them. I then go into how we are a manatee rehabilitation center and how/why the manatees were rescued. I talk about what manatees eat and who their closest relative is (it's an elephant!). From there I go on to explain how manatees are marine mammals and talk about the 5 characteristics of a mammal and how manatees exhibit all of those. Finally, I wrap up with a conservation message about how it's illegal to interact with a wild manatee and what people can do to help manatees! Even though it's only been a few weeks, I already feel very comfortable giving my spiel and answering questions about the manatees. I've also had a lot of great, informative conversations with guests (with the occasional 'where is the bathroom' question thrown in as well)!
I've loved learning about the manatees and getting to be a part of their daily care. It's been a great experience and I'm excited to learn and experience even more during this dream internship! If you have any questions about the manatees, feel free to let me know in the comments below and definitely come check them out at The Seas with Nemo and Friends in Epcot!
July 15, 2016
July 6, 2016
Opening
It has been a few weeks since I officially started training with the marine mammal team. The first week of training I focused on learning the 8-5 shift, and then shortly after I was transitioned to learning the opening shift, which is 7-4. While I am not a fan of waking up early to get to work, I really love being done early and my shift goes by really quickly whenever I open!
The opener is the first member of the marine mammal team to arrive at The Seas. When I arrive, it is my job to open the office, turn on the computers, get the phone messages, and then check on the animals. After that, I start preparing the AM diets for the dolphins. This basically means I sort and weigh fish (capelin and herring) for each of the 4 dolphins. This is a pretty tedious job since I have about an hour to prepare 12 buckets of fish. Afterwards, I clean the kitchen and then get ready to dive! The opener always dives to clean the manatee pool and uses the vacuum. I really like diving because it makes the morning go by really quickly. Typically a second person dives with me to help move the sand around while I vacuum the bottom, but sometimes, like this morning, I dive alone, which means the dive safety people have to tether a rope to me! After diving, I shower and get changed back into my clothes. Typically, I go watch a dolphin session or give a marine biology talk afterwards and then it is time for lunch! The morning definitely flies by when you are an opener.
After lunch I typically cover the manatee stage, which consists of answering questions, feeding the manatees and giving spiels. There are usually some other cleaning tasks I help with in the afternoon. For example, this afternoon I also prepared the PM diets, cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed some rails, did dolphin observations, and covered manatee some more.
So far I am really enjoying the internship! I am totally exhausted by the end of the day, especially because a lot of the work I do is pretty physical, but I find the job very rewarding. I enjoy talking to guests and working with the trainers to care for the dolphins and manatees! I'll be posting more soon about the manatees and my marine biology spiel, so be sure to check back soon for more posts about my Disney Dream!
The opener is the first member of the marine mammal team to arrive at The Seas. When I arrive, it is my job to open the office, turn on the computers, get the phone messages, and then check on the animals. After that, I start preparing the AM diets for the dolphins. This basically means I sort and weigh fish (capelin and herring) for each of the 4 dolphins. This is a pretty tedious job since I have about an hour to prepare 12 buckets of fish. Afterwards, I clean the kitchen and then get ready to dive! The opener always dives to clean the manatee pool and uses the vacuum. I really like diving because it makes the morning go by really quickly. Typically a second person dives with me to help move the sand around while I vacuum the bottom, but sometimes, like this morning, I dive alone, which means the dive safety people have to tether a rope to me! After diving, I shower and get changed back into my clothes. Typically, I go watch a dolphin session or give a marine biology talk afterwards and then it is time for lunch! The morning definitely flies by when you are an opener.
After lunch I typically cover the manatee stage, which consists of answering questions, feeding the manatees and giving spiels. There are usually some other cleaning tasks I help with in the afternoon. For example, this afternoon I also prepared the PM diets, cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed some rails, did dolphin observations, and covered manatee some more.
So far I am really enjoying the internship! I am totally exhausted by the end of the day, especially because a lot of the work I do is pretty physical, but I find the job very rewarding. I enjoy talking to guests and working with the trainers to care for the dolphins and manatees! I'll be posting more soon about the manatees and my marine biology spiel, so be sure to check back soon for more posts about my Disney Dream!
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