Marine Mammal Trainers
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
1/4/10
1/13/09
#84: Cold Tsunami
Sunday January 11th was another wintry day in New England. We accumulated a couple of inches of snow overnight, but it was still business as usual at the New England Aquarium. I had our teen intern Katie filming one of our training sessions to help me track Lana's progress on a new behavior (stay tuned for that) and this is what she caught.
What you don't see in the video is that Lindsay is to my right. Reggae startled and sent a wave of tsunami-like proportions upon us and got Lindsay even worse than me. When I looked up Lindsay was dripping from head to toe ... soaked!
Getting wet is all part of the job for a marine mammal trainer (check out this previous post from warmer times), it's just a little less enjoyable when the temperature is in the teens and it's snowing out. At least we can laugh at ourselves.
1/5/09
#79: Training in New England
Here are perfect examples of a beautiful New England Day. Still interested in working with the seals? Our marine mammal staff have the opportunity to be outdoors in all types of weather. New Years Eve 2008 is definitely one for us to remember and to utilize all those extras layers that you may have seen in the previous post Winterize Me.
12/12/08
#75: Winterize Me
As Justin mentioned in his recent blog, the Marine Mammal Training Staff is taking advantage of a little extra time by learning about new animals and helping out where we can. We're also spending more time getting dressed and undressed. Before you say "Whoa! I didn't think it was that kind of blog", let me explain.
In this picture Justin is wearing what all fashionable trainers wear in the summer; Shorts, a short sleeve shirt, water sandals and a seal on his cheek.
As Lindsay models her winter wear, it's clear that the seal accessory is out of the question.
While Justin has chosen to brave the toe-numbing waters of the penguin tray, some of us have opted for a different climate. Personally, I sought warm weather dwellers. Poison dart frogs are typically found in a tropical climate. I'm working with a Blue poison frog (Dendrobates azureus) in the video. The pink object is a plastic clip I put in to see how she might react to new objects. Ultimately we'll introduce a name target as we have with the harbor seals. You might hear the clicker in the background. This is the initial training of a bridge. To teach the frog to equate the bridge with food, I'm clicking, or trying to, just as she eats a piece of food.
- Jenny
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