Fetching Cayo

 

Sometimes you wake up in the morning and all you want to do is get out of bed and play. This happened to Cayo one day at Dolphin Research Center. Cayo has shown us that she has a very independent dolphinality. She likes things on her own terms and if she doesn’t want to do something, she won’t.

As people stopped by the front lagoon to say hello to the maternity pod, Cayo swam over. She showed off a large leaf she had found in the water. As she fluttered back and forth in front of the tiki-coveredsection, she began to make clicks from her blowhole.

To make her motives clear, Cayo took the piece of foliage and threw it onto the concrete area where guestsstood. Unable to resist her charm, a woman threw the leaf back into the lagoon. This sparked a game of fetch. Each time, after Cayo threw the leaf back, she excitedly swam further and further to indicate she wanted it tossed out as far as possible. Each new round resulted in an even more enthusiastic Cayo.

The game went on for several minutes before it was time for the guest to move onto her interactive program. As she walked away, Cayo began to scream as if to say, “Hey, we were having fun. Come back!” The woman waved goodbye and thanked Cayo for the memories.