The (not so) Glamorous Job!

A lot of people assume that animal training is glamorous but working with the animals is onlyabout 3% of the job. 94% is cleaning/listening. and 2% is writing down observations. On September 23rd, 2010 the mammal dept. decided to put the sea lions in the holding/gate pool while the Sea Lion exhibit(which can hold up to 5-6 SL) was being completely drained for a power wash and water change. It's been at least 3 years since the exhibit was power washed and it was now that time again to get rid of all the algae. Full of algae and sea lion excrement, exactly what excites me about this career, it took a lot of time, and scrubbing, but eventually the pool was finished and looked beautiful! Good Job Everyone!(and it only took 4 1/5 hours! 4pm-8.30pm)

Not only is the job time consuming, but physically, you are exhausted by the end of the day. Then you get to start again at 7:30am the next day.

Here are a few pictures from scrubbing the California Sea Lion exhibit.

Below(Anne) (Danielle and Anne) (Java in the gate pool while we scrubbed)

A Saturday Like Any Other (satur)Day

Oh boy! I have a new intern friend! haha. Her name is Jenna and she goes to SBU. She is quite the cool cat. :) She told me that she is majoring in Biology and is thinking about being a zoo keeper. The good thing about new interns starting, is that I get to use the knowledge I've learned to help teach them the ropes.(hopefully without being annoying :)) I got to teach Jenna how to wonderfully clean the walk-in refrigerator. Another reason i like when new interns start is that the change is rewarding for me as well. Whiskers has been doing okay..I sometimes get worried that his eye sight is getting worse(Albino rats are already half-blind) Whiskers knows a few behaviors that the summer interns taught him. A couple are Target, stand, ball, push, down and station are a few of the successful ones that i know of. He is quite the social rat, and oddly enough, loves to lick!

(above: Me doing a couple of behaviors w/ Java (California Sea Lion)

One Year Anniversary

Well, six more days and i will have been interning with the Atlantis Marine World Marine Mammal department for a year. I have interned with them every Saturday, and then some, accumulating almost 400 hours of experience.

I've learned so much being here that i could never repeat it all in this one blog. I've met so many great people, and made new friends with the same interests.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to work with the seals, monkeys, and train Whiskers.(a rat) Since the seals already know a bunch of behaviors, it is me, who's learning to use the behaviors for their benefit when I'm feeding that seal. There are two seals that i have to choose from, Max and Cecil. They are brothers whom came from Sea World, Orlando. Cecil and Max are

10 years old and have been at Atlantis for most of their lives. (Left, Cecil doing the behavior "wave"/Above: Whiskers targeting)

This past summer was so great, I interned with Jessica Paoli and Rebecca McBride. They are two of the most amazing people and I am very sad that they have left and went back to

college. (right pic: Jess is in back(asain!!), rebecca and me, this picture really represents us haha!)

I was lucky enough this summer to have played a part in the california sea lion show, Aquarium Idol, sometimes in front of 600 people. "YIKES." but it really has helped me out with my public speaking skills. (below: My mentor and me in costume! She's Ryan Wavecrest, I'm Ms. Sue Perstar)

But it's not all fun and games, there is still a lot of work to get done from fish prep to cleaning the walk-in refrigerator to writing in the observation books to scrubbing buckets.

Hopefully i will continue to update this blog talking about my great experience with the Marine Mammal Department.

Start: Sept. 12 End: Unknown

This blog is going to be about my experiences at AMW as a volunteer with the marine mammal department. This internship consists of preparing food for the marine mammals(5 harbor seals, 1 grey seal, 2 california sea lions), making buckets, cleaning, scrubbing algae, public speaking, enrichment sessions with the animals, and training. I also have the chance to meet new people, new friends with the other interns, although most of them are in college.

So far, i think i have been doing pretty well. My skills have improved by a lot, considering the first few days i started, i was very slow while checking fish for fish prep, and could barely hold up a bucket to wash. My fish checking skills could be a little faster by this point, but its better safe then sorry because we need to make sure there are no abrasions, deep cuts, missing eye(s), tails, head, etc.

It is a long day and consists of tons of work. Being that it is a 10 hour job, this job is not glamorous, to say the least. However, i am fully committed to it right now. I volunteer/intern every saturday, and any other days when able to.

Below are some pictures from my internship, and more shall be added, along with updates and information about this time of my life.

This is the fish prep kitchen where we This is a trainer(Danielle) feeding a seal(Cecil)

prepare all the food.