Submitted by dolphin-connection on Wed, 12/16/2009 - 12:32

Fall in the Florida Keys may not be marked by cooling temperatures, changing leaves or snow storms, but the transition is still obvious. As summer vacations end and children return to school, professional conference season begins for those of us in the zoological field. This is a much-anticipated time of year when we gather with colleagues, attend seminars and conferences, share our knowledge and learn, learn, learn!
The International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association (IMATA) conference is always the highlight of our fall season. It’s so popular that everyone on the Dolphin Connection staff wants to attend…but someone has to stay home to take care of the dolphins. (If you ask them, the staff will tell you that 2005 was their favorite year, because we hosted the IMATA conference at Hawks Cay, allowing them all to attend :))
Three of our senior staff members were able to attend this year’s conference hosted by the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. The Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the world and has the distinction of housing the only whale sharks in the country – four of them to be exact. The whale shark, scientific name Rhincodon typus, is a slow moving filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species, growing to over 40 feet in length and weighing almost 47,000 pounds! Now THAT’S a big shark! In the wild, they are found in tropical oceans where they survive on tiny microscopic plants and animals called plankton. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Georgia Aquarium, our trainers were able to experience a private feeding session with these behemoths. From small zodiac boats, the aquarists use marine mammal training techniques to train and feed the sharks, housed in Ocean Voyager, an incredible 6-million gallon habitat that the sharks share with an abundance of fishy friends. And if you think that was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, wait till you hear that our staff actually spent an afternoon scuba diving in Ocean Voyager with the sharks! How’s that for professional development!?! If you’re ever in the Atlanta area, please stop in and visit our friends at the Georgia Aquarium, and sign up to dive with the whale sharks yourself – we promise you won’t be disappointed!
Preparations to attend the IMATA conference began almost a year ago. Our staff was involved with the writing and presentation of three papers this year – I think that’s a record number for us. Our first paper focused on advancements in our educational offerings at Dolphin Connection, including creative strategies for expanding educational opportunities in four key areas – improving public programs by partnering with like-minded conservation organizations, increasing outreach to our community through free science labs in area schools, contributing to the conservation of wild marine mammals by lending our knowledge and expertise to existing wild research programs, and improving opportunities for our own staff development. Dolphin Connection supervisor, Tracy Gaudio-Backhaus, presented this paper…her first one ever! Make no mistake, this is a nerve racking experience that is not for the faint of heart, but she pulled it off like a pro – GREAT job Tracy!
For our second paper, our animal training team partnered with their colleagues at SeaWorld Florida in Orlando to present a paper on the multiple uses of unflavored gelatin with marine mammals. That’s right – gelatin! The paper documented the ten-year history of our facilities working together to introduce something fun, new, and groundbreaking to the art of keeping of marine mammals. Gelatin use began at SeaWorld as an enjoyable and entertaining toy to be played with. It has enriched the lives of many whales and dolphins over the years. But then our veterinarians got to thinking…gelatin is 80% water and could be a great way to get fluids to a dolphin that might need them. So they asked, “Can you teach dolphins to eat unflavored gelatin?” and the trainers answered, “Yes!” Since then we have been utilizing gelatin in a variety of ways – just for fun, for additional fluids, and even for hiding vitamins or medications. The presentation of this paper created an incredible amount of discussion and interest among folks in the marine mammal training field and is already slated for publication in 2010. It makes us feel proud to contribute something of value to our occupation, especially when it has the potential to make a positive impact in the lives of whales and dolphins in zoos and aquariums around the world!
Our third paper found one of our owners, Cheryl Messinger, acting in her role as IMATA Historian. Each year Cheryl works with various marine mammal facilities to chronicle the origins of their whale and dolphin training programs. This year she worked with our colleagues and neighbors close to home, detailing the early history of marine mammal training in the Florida Keys. As always, it was an interesting and informative look back at our origin.
Although the week inevitably came to an end and the conference came to an eventual close, it didn’t really end there. Our trainers returned home to Duck Key inspired by new knowledge, new skills, new tools and new ideas which they shared with their eager co-workers. But more importantly, this new inspiration has already sparked creativity that will benefit our beloved dolphins, and, for us, there is no greater reward than that!

Dolphin Connection Blog – December 200912/16/2009

Fall in the Florida Keys may not be marked by cooling temperatures, changing leaves or snow storms, but the transition is still obvious. As summer vacations end and children return to school, professional conference season begins for those of us in the zoological field. This is a much-anticipated time of year when we gather with colleagues, attend seminars and conferences, share our knowledge and learn, learn, learn!

The International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association (IMATA) conference is always the highlight of our fall season. It’s so popular that everyone on the Dolphin Connection staff wants to attend…but someone has to stay home to take care of the dolphins. (If you ask them, the staff will tell you that 2005 was their favorite year, because we hosted the IMATA conference at Hawks Cay, allowing them all to attend :))

Three of our senior staff members were able to attend this year’s conference hosted by the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. The Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the world and has the distinction of housing the only whale sharks in the country – four of them to be exact. The whale shark, scientific name Rhincodon typus, is a slow moving filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species, growing to over 40 feet in length and weighing almost 47,000 pounds! Now THAT’S a big shark! In the wild, they are found in tropical oceans where they survive on tiny microscopic plants and animals called plankton. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Georgia Aquarium, our trainers were able to experience a private feeding session with these behemoths. From small zodiac boats, the aquarists use marine mammal training techniques to train and feed the sharks, housed in Ocean Voyager, an incredible 6-million gallon habitat that the sharks share with an abundance of fishy friends. And if you think that was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience, wait till you hear that our staff actually spent an afternoon scuba diving in Ocean Voyager with the sharks! How’s that for professional development!?! If you’re ever in the Atlanta area, please stop in and visit our friends at the Georgia Aquarium, and sign up to dive with the whale sharks yourself – we promise you won’t be disappointed!

Preparations to attend the IMATA conference began almost a year ago. Our staff was involved with the writing and presentation of three papers this year – I think that’s a record number for us. Our first paper focused on advancements in our educational offerings at Dolphin Connection, including creative strategies for expanding educational opportunities in four key areas – improving public programs by partnering with like-minded conservation organizations, increasing outreach to our community through free science labs in area schools, contributing to the conservation of wild marine mammals by lending our knowledge and expertise to existing wild research programs, and improving opportunities for our own staff development. Dolphin Connection supervisor, Tracy Gaudio-Backhaus, presented this paper…her first one ever! Make no mistake, this is a nerve racking experience that is not for the faint of heart, but she pulled it off like a pro – GREAT job Tracy!

For our second paper, our animal training team partnered with their colleagues at SeaWorld Florida in Orlando to present a paper on the multiple uses of unflavored gelatin with marine mammals. That’s right – gelatin! The paper documented the ten-year history of our facilities working together to introduce something fun, new, and groundbreaking to the art of keeping of marine mammals. Gelatin use began at SeaWorld as an enjoyable and entertaining toy to be played with. It has enriched the lives of many whales and dolphins over the years. But then our veterinarians got to thinking…gelatin is 80% water and could be a great way to get fluids to a dolphin that might need them. So they asked, “Can you teach dolphins to eat unflavored gelatin?” and the trainers answered, “Yes!” Since then we have been utilizing gelatin in a variety of ways – just for fun, for additional fluids, and even for hiding vitamins or medications. The presentation of this paper created an incredible amount of discussion and interest among folks in the marine mammal training field and is already slated for publication in 2010. It makes us feel proud to contribute something of value to our occupation, especially when it has the potential to make a positive impact in the lives of whales and dolphins in zoos and aquariums around the world!

Our third paper found one of our owners, Cheryl Messinger, acting in her role as IMATA Historian. Each year Cheryl works with various marine mammal facilities to chronicle the origins of their whale and dolphin training programs. This year she worked with our colleagues and neighbors close to home, detailing the early history of marine mammal training in the Florida Keys. As always, it was an interesting and informative look back at our origin.

Although the week inevitably came to an end and the conference came to an eventual close, it didn’t really end there. Our trainers returned home to Duck Key inspired by new knowledge, new skills, new tools and new ideas which they shared with their eager co-workers. But more importantly, this new inspiration has already sparked creativity that will benefit our beloved dolphins, and, for us, there is no greater reward than that!