We were marine mammal keepers for a day!
| It was just before six-thirty in the morning when my mom, my
thirteen-year-old brother, and I approached the employee
entrance at SeaWorld Orlando. We were not SeaWorld
employees, but we were about to get a glimpse of what it is
like to work at SeaWorld. We had booked a Marine Mammal Keeper Experience,
a day-long behind-the-scenes experience where we would interact with beluga whales,
manatees, dolphins, and sea lions. Lauren, our guide, escorted us to a waiting golf cart, the chariot that would take us zooming through the employees-only areas of the park. One of our first stops was a large tank where manatees slowly swam about. Lauren helped us toss full heads of lettuce, the manatees’ breakfast, into the water. |
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| In a nearby pool was a very small baby manatee. Lauren explained that the baby was recently rescued. One of the keepers brought a large bottle filled with formula and capped with a big rubber nipple. She gently positioned the baby and offered him the nipple. He took it eagerly and soon the formula was completely gone. |
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| Lauren told us that it was time to put on wetsuits, so we
hopped in the golf cart and sped off. Once we had changed into our bathing suits and pulled on wetsuits, Lauren brought us to the dolphin lagoon where another keeper led us onto a slightly submerged platform. We knelt at the edge, and some of the dolphins approached us. The keeper told us to splash the dolphins. We did, and they splashed us right back. He also taught us how to ask the dolphins to vocalize and to splash with their tails. We gave them fish to reward these behaviors. Finally, we posed for a picture with one of the dolphins and then walked back to dry land. |
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| Next, Lauren took us to visit mother dolphins and their
babies in the Dolphin Nursery pool. Park guests watched as
we walked past the barricades and stepped right up to the
edge of the pool. Even though we were offering no food
rewards, dolphins eagerly approached us. Lauren showed me how to gently massage the muscles down their
backs as they swam by. I tried this on one of the dolphins,
and she turned around and came back for more. We slipped backstage again and sped off in our golf cart to the Wild Arctic exhibit. We met some of the keepers and then stepped “on-stage” in the beluga exhibit. I’m sure park goers were watching us, but all of my attention was focused on the white-gray belugas. We knelt into the shallow, icy water. The keepers let us touch the belugas, signal a few different behaviors, and get a beluga kiss. |
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| Our next interaction took place outside, in the warm Florida sunshine. In a backstage area, we watched seals swim around their tanks, happily catching fish tossed to them by their keepers. Then we were led inside an enclosure where we were introduced to some of the seals. The keepers cued the seals to demonstrate some of their behaviors. Then they let us stroke the seals' wet, furry coats. It felt a lot like petting a wet dog. |
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| And then it was time for lunch. We peeled off our wetsuits,
showered, and put on the official SeaWorld keeper t-shirts
that were included with our
program. After a quick lunch, we traveled to a backstage area of the sea lion exhibit. We were given heavy metal buckets full of fish and were led into the park. We plopped down our buckets at the edge of the sea lion exhibit (Pacific Point Preserve) where we tossed fish after fish to the barking sea lions. Once we were backstage again, a large male adult sea lion was brought out to meet us. The keeper asked him to lie down, and we stroked his fur. He felt a lot like the seals. Then, we stood side-by-side with the keeper, and we cued some of his behaviors. As a final goodbye, we took turns asking him to present a flipper which he offered and we gently shook. |
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| Our final keeper experience was meeting an adult male
walrus. The huge animal waddled up to the edge of the
enclosure that separated us. On cue, he presented his back
flipper through an opening and allowed us to stroke it. This
is a behavior that the animals are taught to allow medical
staff to safely obtain any necessary blood samples,
without needing to sedate or restrain the animal. Our walrus
interaction ended with each of us receiving a, slightly wet,
walrus kiss. Our day as marine mammal keepers had come to an end. We hopped into the golf cart and took one last ride. Lauren dropped us off in a backstage area, and we entered the park though an employee entrance. We spent the rest of the day enjoying SeaWorld, but now, when we visited the exhibits, they stirred up memories of the moments we’d spent meeting the wonderful animals and marine mammal keepers at SeaWorld. |
I did this in 2010 in Orlando, Florida, USA. |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jen is also known as J.W. Lynne, a best selling author of eleven novels. Click on any of the titles below to see the book on Amazon! THE UNKNOWN: Eight kids learn the shocking reason why they were kidnapped. ABOVE THE SKY: A girl lives in a world where touching her soulmate is forbidden. THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE: A teen is locked in a bunker to take a simulated trip to the moon. KID DOCS: An experimental program turns kids into doctors. WILD ANIMAL SCHOOL: A girl falls in love with a boy at an exotic animal ranch. WHAT HE DIDN'T TELL ME: A traumatized girl meets a boy with a horrible secret. IF I TELL: A teen wonders if her father is a serial killer. Besides reading books and dreaming up stories to write, Jen's favorite activities are singing along to musical theater soundtracks and hiking in California's beautiful parks. **Jen's books are available on Kindle Unlimited.** |
See more of Jen's animal adventures here. |