Dolphins Pepe and Lucea reenact JAWS!

"Jaws Theme" Copyright 1975 by John Williams. The original soundtrack for Jaws was released by MCA Records in 1975

Luna the Dolphin Makes a Splash

Surfing with Pepe the Dolphin

Ziggy the Dolphin does a high jump

Play Ball!

In this video, I am training Nemo to catch and toss a ball. Notice on the left, further away, my colleague Ricardo is training Ziggy to do the same thing. Our goal is to eventually train Ziggy and Nemo to "play ball" by tossing the ball between each other and two trainers, and even a guest.

Training Nemo - UPDATED

Nemo is a very high energy dolphin, so we decided to train him to do a double-front flip rather than a single. To start training him to do this behavior, we focused on motivating Nemo following a target: a long pole with a little buoy on the end that Nemo follows, in this case, with his mouth or "rostrum." Our first step was to train Nemo to complete one rotation (flip) under the water’s surface. Then, after he understood what we wanted him to do, we added the second rotation. The next part of the process was to motivate Nemo to take the flip out of the water and follow the target pole. After Nemo learned to flip out of the water, we used the "bridge" (a whistle) and "primary reinforcement" (fish) to perfect Nemo’s double flip. One day, Nemo over rotated by an additional half-flip, and we decided to adopt this change in the criteria for the behavior: we decided to use the bridge and primary reinforcement to complete the third rotation. Now Nemo has the most amazing triple front flip. It’s WICKED!.

Hurricane Preparedness Training - Updated

When there is a hurricane, debris and large waves in the lagoon are a threat to dolphin safety. We train the dolphins to come out of the lagoon voluntarily so they are relaxed when we need to move them. We also want the staff to be well-trained in the evacuation procedures so that when it is time to deal with the emergency, they know exactly what to do. In this video, we are training the dolphins to come out of the water onto a platform. This will allow us to take them, one-by-one, on stretchers to the above-ground, indoor pool. The pool is located in a building which is designed to withstand hurricanes up to Class 5, and removal to the building during big storms ensures the animals' safety until the storm passes. We do routine dress-rehearsals for evacuations to ensure that the dolphins know what is happening and can participate without stress.

Luna's Dance

Luna's Ball Dance 

Elvis is one of the senior trainers here at Dolphin Cove. When we attended the International Marine Animal Trainers Association conference this year, their opening video included a ball-dance behavior. Luna has recently demonstrated a great interest in playing with balls, so Elvis decided to train Luna to do the same behavior. Luna loved learning the ball dance, and as you can see in the video, she really enjoys doing it!

Dolphin Videos!

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My Life as a Trainer

The first thing I want you to know about me is that I LOVE being a trainer! I love marine mammals, and I have a special passion to help educate people about them. When the public connects to the animals I help to train, this raises consciousness about the health of the world’s oceans, and this helps all marine life.

Training is all about communication, being clear and precise. Good training is also motivation and fun! Highly intelligent animals are very motivated to be mentally and physically challenged, and it a very important part of designing a healthy life style for them.

What I love most is the “aha” moment. This is that moment when an animal gets what you want him or her to do through successive approximations: training steps that lead to the goal behavior. When the animal does it for the first time, it is so incredibly rewarding to share that moment of understanding between the two of you. That “aha” moment, priceless! Of course this process can take minutes or even months, depending on the animal and what you are training him or her to do.

Dolphins, in particular, are very motivated to learn new things. It’s great for their mental as well as physical stimulation.