Thursday, June 30, 2005
After all those highlights from my past week, I forgot the most important. I got my whistle at the zoo! Ok, some may think, "what is the big deal?" To me it's a big deal, therefore it should be a big deal to you too! So you can send your congratulation cards, flowers and gifts directly to Ryan's parent's house. :)
I'll give some highlights of the past week or so...
1. Josh got a full time teaching job for next semester! Go, Josh! He'll be teaching at an alternative school up in Calumet, MI.
2. This will be the first Cornerstone Music Festival I'll miss in what would've been 9 years in a row going. Sad week. To me, it is the best place on earth.
3. Baby dolphin (Sprout is what we've been calling him...he won't be named for many months so we need to call him something) is doing GREAT. He is getting pretty adventurous. He tries to swim away from mom to see how far she'll let him go. He also bit Spree's tail already, but it was probably well deserved.
4. Last week at the zoo four different kids asked for my autograph. Strange, but cool at the same time. I remember when I was at Cornerstone last year and people asked some members of Anathello (a band who I know some of the members) for their autographs. I remember the look on their faces...mine probably looked the same.
5. I am officially cleared on all of Chinook's behaviors. Today I got cleared on the four "big" show behaviors: Long back tail walk, long back from the side, bow, and breech. Do those terms mean anything to you? I guess you'll have to come and visit to find out.
6. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but oh well.
1. Josh got a full time teaching job for next semester! Go, Josh! He'll be teaching at an alternative school up in Calumet, MI.
2. This will be the first Cornerstone Music Festival I'll miss in what would've been 9 years in a row going. Sad week. To me, it is the best place on earth.
3. Baby dolphin (Sprout is what we've been calling him...he won't be named for many months so we need to call him something) is doing GREAT. He is getting pretty adventurous. He tries to swim away from mom to see how far she'll let him go. He also bit Spree's tail already, but it was probably well deserved.
4. Last week at the zoo four different kids asked for my autograph. Strange, but cool at the same time. I remember when I was at Cornerstone last year and people asked some members of Anathello (a band who I know some of the members) for their autographs. I remember the look on their faces...mine probably looked the same.
5. I am officially cleared on all of Chinook's behaviors. Today I got cleared on the four "big" show behaviors: Long back tail walk, long back from the side, bow, and breech. Do those terms mean anything to you? I guess you'll have to come and visit to find out.
6. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but oh well.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
This morning at around 7:10 Rio gave birth to a beautiful baby boy dolphin. I got the call around 5 am that she was going into labor. When I got to the zoo at 5:30 (which it takes 35 minutes to get there normally, however I was speeding…sorry officer…there is a baby dolphin being born…can I go?) they were not sure yet if the rostrum (meaning it’s breach) or if the flukes/tail (the way it should be) was coming out first. You could just see her genitals open and something coming out, but you couldn’t tell what end. When the flukes popped out we all screamed/cried/thanked God. Labor was fairly short. I was above the water and we didn’t really have any indication that it was coming. An intern and I were leaning over the pool because Rio was passing and we wanted to sex the baby so we could win a free steak dinner from the supervisor. Then all of a sudden, Jenny yells, “It’s here!” Someone plowed me over in the mass chaos. I pick myself off the ground and ran to my station. There were probably 15 people stationed around the pool to make sure the baby didn’t hit the sides. Rio did a good job herding it. It took its first breath, we all cheered.
The day didn’t end without any close calls though…It was around 2:00 and Rio was about to pass the placenta. We were all standing guard so we could catch it in a net before it sunk. I saw in the monitors that she passed it, so we were trying to find it. Meanwhile I look up and the calf is on the deck, with Rio putting her head on the side, trying to get her baby back in the water. A poor zoo volunteer who didn’t know what to do was over there so an intern and I run over to push it back in the water. He got back in safely, but it was one of the scariest experiences ever. And to see Rio trying to get her baby back was heart breaking. Obviously some of us were upset, but also glad it was safe again and ok. Then I hear a co-worker commenting on how some people are too emotional. Sorry I’m not heartless. O.k. That’s off my chest. Another thing that was hard about it is the public could see it and probably scared the crap out of them too.
On a pass by the underwater viewing Robyn and Lynn were able to see the baby’s genital slit with no mammary slits present, telling us it’s a boy. He also nursed a couple times throughout the day. I had to leave at 3:00 to get to my other job, but he was doing well when I left. Oh, and I got to touch the dolphin placenta. How many people can say that? Oh, and did I mention that he is the CUTEST THING EVER!
The day didn’t end without any close calls though…It was around 2:00 and Rio was about to pass the placenta. We were all standing guard so we could catch it in a net before it sunk. I saw in the monitors that she passed it, so we were trying to find it. Meanwhile I look up and the calf is on the deck, with Rio putting her head on the side, trying to get her baby back in the water. A poor zoo volunteer who didn’t know what to do was over there so an intern and I run over to push it back in the water. He got back in safely, but it was one of the scariest experiences ever. And to see Rio trying to get her baby back was heart breaking. Obviously some of us were upset, but also glad it was safe again and ok. Then I hear a co-worker commenting on how some people are too emotional. Sorry I’m not heartless. O.k. That’s off my chest. Another thing that was hard about it is the public could see it and probably scared the crap out of them too.
On a pass by the underwater viewing Robyn and Lynn were able to see the baby’s genital slit with no mammary slits present, telling us it’s a boy. He also nursed a couple times throughout the day. I had to leave at 3:00 to get to my other job, but he was doing well when I left. Oh, and I got to touch the dolphin placenta. How many people can say that? Oh, and did I mention that he is the CUTEST THING EVER!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Crazy day at work today. The 2:00 show was cancelled because we had to evacuate everyone due to a severe thunderstorm. We were going to do it at 2:45 instead since the storm passed. During the middle of that show we lost power, so we had to evacuate people again because the dolphins can't do behaviors in the dark. Then at about 3:30 there was a huge water leak in a room near the pools that contains huge tanks to fill the pools. It was washing this mulch stuff into the pool so we were doing everything we could in order to stop the inflow of crap in the pool. So, the 4:00 show was cancelled because we were busy trying to clean up everything. And...Rio didn't eat anything. We think the birth will occur later tonight or tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.
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