Tursi Gets Younger With Age

Tursi loves to have a good time!

Recently, Tursi became the designated mom in the front lagoon as the other mother and calf pairs weaned. She now shares the lagoon with her two year old son, Gambit, two year old Flagler, three year olds Delta, Louie, and Luna, and six year olds Cayo and Gypsi. For any other mother, this may have been a fluke full, but Tursi is our supermom. She enjoys every single minute of it.

As she continues to nurse and teach Gambit, she’s also taken Flagler and Delta under her flipper. The four them can often be seen swimming around the lagoon together. Being a naturally nurturing dolphin, Tursi easily keeps all of the youngsters in line.

Not only is Tursi blissfully happy to be the resident mom, but she’s also learning a lot from her younger lagoon mates. She’s begun to be more lenient in her mothering style. Normally, during a session Tursi will swim away to check on Gambit. However, she’s begun to do this less frequently and even allows him to play with more objects than she has in the past.

The funniest part of all is that Tursi has decided she, once again, enjoys a game of seaweed toss with her human friends! She often brings a wad of sea grass over to the dock for her friends to throw back out to her. She’s done this with several staff and volunteers, on different occasions. This game is often played by the much younger dolphins, so it’s refreshing to see Tursi get in on the action. The youngsters may have inspired her!

As she plays, Gambit watches. Not only is Tursi interacting with her human family but at the same time she’s teaching Gambit how to play. This ensures that Gambit knows the rules but also allows him to play a bit on his own. When she’s decided the game is over she happily swims away with her son in tow.

An Encounter to Remember

 

People who take part in our sessions often get to play dolphin trainer themselves. During the swim program, the young dolphins often work on their manners and to keep their heads up out of the water so that their eyes show in pictures, among a vast amount of other behaviors.

During a particularly entertaining Dolphin Encounter, two of our youngest dolphins were paired together, Gambit and Luna. As baby dolphins their minds tend to wander, especially when there are a dozen different things going on during a session. In this one specifically, there were a lot of distractions!

Luna loves her in water friends!

Gambit and Luna were positioned at the dock in front of the Flipper’s Sea School sign by the front lagoon. To their right, at the main dock by the sea lion habitat, a narration was going on with Molly. To their left, at our biggest dock, other in water programs were taking place. Directly across from them Gypsi and Delta were with their trainer.

These little youngsters are used to the organized chaos that is a session at Dolphin Research Center. However, adding an extra dose of curiosity, our Environmental Services team was at work in the lagoon going through the mangroves to find hidden toys the dolphins had placed in among the branches and roots. Plus, there was an inflatable boat in the lagoon! We’re not dolphins, but if we had all of that around us, we’d probably have a hard time paying attention too.

Gambit can rock any behavior.

While only two and three years old respectively, Gambit and Luna are both extremely intelligent and have amazingly spirited. When it came to kisses, handshakes, backrubs, and imitations with the swimmers, they excelled! For the dorsal pulls, however, they proved that two kids aren’t always the best drivers.

During the tows, neither Luna nor Gambit knew how to steer. They waited for their guest to grab a hold of their dorsal fins, but then weren’t sure what to do. Generally, they do swims with other dolphins. Gambit is often with his mom, Tursi, and Luna is paired up with an older dolphin, often Cayo or Gypsi. The two youngsters together was a big change of pace, but it’s good to keep the dolphins on their tail flukes. When it became clear that Gambit and Luna really couldn’t do the dorsal pulls on their own, their trainer called in for reinforcement. From across the lagoon, Gypsi swam over, ready to make memories with the guests!

As Gypsi took each swimmer around the lagoon on her own, Luna and Gambit became more comfortable and were eager to join. Gypsi would swoop in to grab a guest’s hand and Luna would take the other. Gambit would swim from behind in the girls’ stream. Before you knew it, guests had Luna on the left, Gypsi on the right, and Gambit doing foot pushes! The swimmers had a truly unique experience in the water with these three special dolphins.

Once the dorsal pulls were over, Gypsi went back to her original dock and Luna and Gambit were thrilled to continue their play time with guests. They even began to create new behaviors simultaneously. When you’re working with dolphins, you have to be prepared to expect the unexpected but you’ll always leave with a smile on your face.

Dolphin Research Center Seeks Public’s Help Finding Entangled Manatee

         Grassy Key… Dolphin Research Center (DRC), Licensed Manatee Rescue Team for the Florida Keys, is asking the public to help find a badly entangled manatee.  The manatee, named Scott, has mounds of monofilament fishing line wrapped around and embedded in both of his pectoral flippers.  The animal is approximately 9 to11 feet long and was recently spotted in the Marathon area, although he often travels throughout the Florida Keys in winter months.  Anyone who sees Scott should immediately call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) at 1-888-404-3922 to report his location.  DRC’s trained team will then attempt to outfit him with a belt and tracking tag so that a rescue mission can be coordinated.

Rescuing a manatee is a complicated process that often takes days or even weeks.  Many factors come into play including whether the animal is in an area where it can be netted and brought onto the boat for assessment and transport.  Weather, the availability of limited resources, and other things may also impact when a rescue can be tried.  Often officials must wait for optimal conditions, which is frustrating for them as well as the public that observes the manatee.  Fortunately, Scott’s condition isn’t life-threatening and he is fully mobile.  However, as the entanglement worsens, it can create complications including self-amputation of the pectoral flippers, infection and other problems.  So, assessing him is a priority.

Anyone who sees Scott should not attempt to assist him themselves or cut away any of the entangled line.  Properly helping a manatee in distress requires training and experience to minimize risk of injury to the person assisting as well as to the animal.  Identifying the location, including GPS coordinates if available, and contacting the FWCC with the timely information, is the best help that the public can provide.

Dolphin Bumper Cars

The kids love to crawl all over each other.

 

In the front lagoon, you never know what’s going to happen. Seven youngsters share the space with one adult.   As you can imagine, it gets pretty chaotic on occasion, especially when you’re dealing with little boys.

During a session, Louie, Delta, Gambit, and Flagler were playing at different docks but took the opportunity to be silly with one another. All of them were asked to show their tummies to the crowd and they did, but not before playing a little bit of dolphin bumper cars.

Louie floated into the middle of the lagoon and went right over Delta, who decided to go over Flagler. Gambit managed to get through without being bumped but still played along with the rest of the boys. When the trainers blew their whistles, the signal that says, “That’s great, now return to me”,  all of the boys flipped over at the same time and tried to go through each other to get back to the dock.

Don’t worry though; it’s natural for the dolphins to climb over each other. Sometimes when a dolphin is asked to go from one side of a dock to the other to wait their turn, they swim right over their friend’s back. The dolphins are a lot like kids! Extremely playful and energetic. They cannot wait to go back, see their human friends, and have fun.

DRC Cares For All Animals

Mandy Rodriguez, co-founder and COO, was able to coax the pelican over to him.

 

We may be called Dolphin Research Center, but the staff and volunteers at the facility are committed to helping all critters. Every animal that resides on DRC’s grounds is ensured a safe environment. Whether they’re an iguana that has decided to call us home or a bird that is flying in to try to grab a meal, our mission is to give them an excellent quality of life.

The other day, staff members noticed a pelican in distress. Our very own co-founder and COO, Mandy Rodriguez, watched it to see if it was exhibiting any odd behavior. It seemed as if it needed help, so Mandy decided to catch it to offer assistance.

The pelican was hesitant to come to Mandy, so to get closer to the bird, he got into the water. As he entered, the bird became more comfortable and, with the help of some fish, Mandy coaxed the bird into his arms.

Never one to miss an opportunity for education, Mandy took the time to tell onlookers about the bird. Based on the size of the bill, we were able to determine that it was a female, so we affectionately named her Beverly. Mandy also explained that Beverly was obviously not in a tremendous amount of distress because she was attempting to eat. As he talked more about the pelican, guests were amazed by how calm the bird was in his arms.

Mandy and staff member, Willy Cotto, discuss pelicans with guests.

 

We quickly checked her out.  Wanting to err on the side of caution, we took her to the Wild Bird Sanctuary in Marathon, Florida. After we dropped her off and staff thoroughly looked her over, they determined that Beverly had a hook in her neck.

Beverly’s ailment was a direct effect of improperly discarded fishing gear. We are happy that we were able to help her but there are many other birds, as well as other animals, who suffer a similar fate without being saved. It is important to make sure that fishing gear and trash are securely thrown away in order to keep animals safe.

We’re happy we were able to get Beverly the attention that she needed. We wish her the best on her journey to recovery!

Speed Dolphins



Jax loves to race his buddy A.J.

A.J., Jax, and Tanner love the Keys’ lifestyle. Generally, these three “little boys” are pretty laid back. They enjoy play time with their trainers, but also love to hang out by the causeway and people watch. Even though A.J. is an adult and Tanner and Jax are still pretty young, their chill dolphinalities allow them to enjoy each other’s company.

Jax, who is the youngest, still has his kid moments. He loves to crawl all over A.J. and Tanner and create a little chaos. One of his favorite things to do is challenge the other two on races.

When these three guys are asked to do a speed run together, they all take off at the same time. However, Jax likes to pull out fast and swim past his two buddies so he’s in the lead. As they come into their final approach, Jax makes sure he crosses the imaginary finish line first.

 

 

Jax’s need for speed isn’t necessarily competitive. He is the youngster of the group, so he still loves to play around and act like  a juvenile dolphin. Jax absolutely adores A.J. and Tanner, and is constantly learning from them.

It’s so much fun to watch A.J., Jax, and Tanner together. These three guys are so charming and sweet that you can’t help but fall in love with all of them.

 

 

Disco Delta

Delta loves to boogie.

We love to see our family members’ dolphinalities shine. It’s interesting to talk to staff about each animal, because we see each of them uniquely. Sometimes a certain person spends a lot of time with one dolphin, while another focuses on another family member. While all of the trainers work with all of the dolphins, there is always something new to uncover about each member of the pod.

Delta, who lives in a lagoon with six other juvenile dolphins, has begun to really show off his quirky side. He loves to have a great time. He’s very curious and has shown that he likes to do things on his own terms.

During an afternoon session with volunteers, Delta had fun as the volunteers spent time with him and the other dolphins in the front lagoon. Suddenly, one of the volunteers asked Delta to dance. He then started to wiggle one of his pectoral flippers. Not only was it adorable, but it resulted in a great new nickname for him, “Disco Delta”!

The volunteers decided that Delta was getting his groove on to the beat of his own song, which apparently was a medley from the disco era. On occasion, Delta waves the same pectoral flipper when asked to dance. It seems that Disco Delta may have found his signature move.