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Day in the Life of a Dolphin Trainer at Georgia Aquarium

  Take a look behind the scenes into a day in the life of a dolphin trainer at Georgia Aquarium.  Day in the Life of a Dolphin Trainer at Georgia Aquarium 1By: Stephen Fischer, Associate Curator, Dolphin

As a kid, most of our family vacations were to Orlando to visit Disney and SeaWorld. As I got older, these parks continued to be a favorite destination, but I started to see them in a different light. During an animal presentation at SeaWorld, I realized the unique relationship required to work with these aquatic animals. Seeing how closely the trainer and animal worked together inspired me. I remember 14-year-old Stephen every time I perform in our presentations, and I think of the thousands of people in our audience. The trainer I watched and admired as a kid will never know how she impacted me. I hope I can have a similar effect on our guests and young aspiring animal trainers.

While pursuing this career, I spent my summer interning at different animal parks to gain hands-on experience in the field. After graduation, I was hired at a marine park near my hometown, working with dolphins and sea lions. I then met one of the trainers in Georgia Aquarium’s dolphin area and was invited to shadow them. I was so impressed with the Aquarium and its animals that I knew this was where I wanted to be.

A typical day on the dolphin team starts very early. We begin by sorting hundreds of pounds of fish to make individualized diets for each of our animals. Once their diets are ready, we begin each day with visual exams and collecting any medical samples our vets may need to ensure all our dolphins are healthy. The best part is every day is different – it is our job to ensure our dolphins never know what’s coming next because this keeps them excited, engaged, and active throughout the day. Their day may include participating in presentations, guest programs, new behavior training sessions, play sessions with some of their favorite toys, or sessions focused on continuing to build bonds between our animals and trainers.

Occasionally, I get the incredible opportunity to go out into the community and share my passion for these animals. This will be my fourth year joining Toomer Elementary School at their Science Night. Science Night is an entertaining and informative STEAM-filled event hosted by volunteers from the Atlanta community. These are opportunities for the kids to have hands-on exposure to the various fields of science. Our education department also recently hosted students from Booker T Washington at the Aquarium so they could learn more about careers in the field of STEM from our staff and experts.

Living in Atlanta, many of these students may never see animals like ours up close. The Aquarium provides an opportunity to learn more about our animals, their habitats, and what we can do to protect them. Though some of these students may have seen our dolphin presentation, they may still need to learn what it takes to care for these animals.

Events like this allow them to ask questions and get more inspired by what they learn. Many of our firmest habits develop at an early age.  Working with kids at this age helps form habits of conservation that become a way of life. I secretly hope these kids go home and bug their parents to start recycling, too.

Day in the Life of a Dolphin Trainer at Georgia Aquarium 3Dolphin Trainer at Georgia Aquarium

Being an animal caretaker is an incredibly rewarding career. The animals I work with truly depend on me, and that inspires me to give them my all every day. The bonds we form make these animals more like family than co-workers. I love seeing the smiles on our guests’ faces as they leave our presentations, and knowing what I do brings joy to their day.

For anyone interested in working with dolphins or other marine mammals, I recommend pursuing a degree in psychology, biology, marine biology, or another life science-related field. You will also want strong swimming skills and a SCUBA certification. Most importantly, look for ways to volunteer or internships working with animals to gain some hands-on experience. These programs will also help you ensure you are passionate about this. Working with these animals is a lot of fun. But heads up – it’s also a lot of hard work (and a LOT of cleaning).

Published on Mar 5, 2024.

Caring for the Ocean’s Gentle Giants

Georgia Aquarium is one of the few facilities in the world to house a whale shark. Learn more about what it takes to care for the ocean’s largest fish.

The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and the largest known to have lived on this planet. They can be found offshore in the tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans – and at Georgia Aquarium.

Caring for the largest fish in the sea is quite a task and requires the involvement of several different teams:

Animal care, dive, life support systems, environmental health lab, commissary research, and veterinary staff all are involved in the daily care of the whale shark at Georgia Aquarium.

The dive team

Oversees the daily maintenance of the 6.3-million-gallon Ocean Voyager Exhibit the Aquarium’s whale shark’s call home. The dive team is in charge of cleaning this exhibit in its entirety; from the rocks on the exhibit floor to the nearly 20-foot-tall viewing window. All this cleaning ensures our animals have a healthy habitat to call home. This team also oversees our Swim with Gentle Giants and Dive with Gentle Giants programs. Along with our Veterans Immersion Program, helping guests and veterans get up close and personal with these incredible animals. With all these responsibilities, our dive team spends the most time in the water with our whale shark.

The Environmental Health Lab team

Monitors the water quality in all the Aquarium’s exhibits, including Ocean Voyager. Monitoring all levels (from salinity levels to air quality and lighting) to ensure the environment is properly set up and maintained to accommodate each species.

The commissary team

Is vital because they prepare and organize all food for the Aquarium’s thousands of animals. Although their mouths can be nearly four feet in length, whale sharks are filter feeders. Their esophagi are only about the size of a quarter. They are fed an assortment of shrimp, krill, and small fish several times each day, totaling nearly 40 lbs of food a day per whale shark.

The Life Support Systems (LSS) team

Is responsible for the operation, care, and upkeep of Georgia Aquarium’s aquatic exhibits. Alongside the Environmental Health Lab team, our LSS team ensures all exhibits receive the proper salinity levels. Since Georgia Aquarium is land-locked without direct access to the ocean, our LSS teams create saltwater that would mimic that of the ocean. Georgia Aquarium recycles 99% of the water throughout all exhibits, over 11 million gallons in total.

To learn more about whale sharks and Georgia Aquarium’s research and conservation efforts, please visit our website.

Since opening in 2005, the Aquarium’s research team has studied whale sharks across the globe in places like Mexico, Taiwan, and the Galapagos Islands. During this field work, our teams have been able to successfully tag whale sharks to track migratory patterns and take blood draws to analyze their current health status.  This endangered species faces numerous threats. Our teams are working both at home and in the field to help conserve these gentle giants for generations to come.

 

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Published on Aug 31, 2023.

Sharks in Danger this Shark Week

Who doesn’t enjoy heading to the beach during summertime? But with the increase of visitors to beaches across the globe, the ‘hot’ topic of discussion is shark attacks.

In recent years, the worldwide average of confirmed unprovoked shark attacks has been declining. In 2022, the worldwide total was a record low at 57, compared to previous years when the average was 70. A new study, conducted by Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, also shows that the risk of a shark bite for surfers, swimmers, and divers in California, specifically, has dropped by 91 percent in the last 50 years.

With unprovoked shark attacks on the downward trajectory, what about human effects on sharks?

A recent report shows the global shark population has decreased by more than 70% in the last 50 years. This is a startling decline and poses a large threat to the recovery rate of these populations. But what is causing such a rapid drop?

Researchers have uncovered vast amounts of information regarding sharks, their behavior, and feeding patterns. This information has created a deeper understanding of sharks and their important role in our ocean’s systemic balance.

For decades, a gruesome practice called shark finning has resulted in the mass killing of sharks worldwide. This process involves cutting off a shark’s fin while discarding the remaining body, often dumping it into the ocean. The shark finning industry is still legal in areas across the globe and has increased in the past decade due to the growing demand for shark fin soup – a popular dish in many countries.

How many sharks are killed every year?

An estimated 100 million sharks are killed each year. To put this into perspective – that is nearly 2 million times the number of confirmed shark attacks worldwide in 2022 (57).

How does this affect our ocean?

As an apex predator, sharks play an important role in our ocean’s ecosystem. When there is a significant decrease in any population, the results throw off the entire system’s balance. The decline of these predators causes an increased population of their prey. For example, the decline of the endangered great hammerhead has caused the population of stingrays to increase. The growing stingray population now eats more of their prey – scallops, clams, and oysters. This not only impacts these prey populations, and therefore the biodiversity of the ecosystem; but also impacts human fisheries.

It is also difficult for many shark species to reproduce as quickly as they are being diminished, due to their slow growth and reproductive rates. This makes many shark species highly susceptible to extinction. Several species of shark are already endangered, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, including the great hammerhead, zebra shark, whale shark, and over 125 other species. 98 other species are listed as critically endangered.

How are we helping sharks?

At Georgia Aquarium, and around the world, our teams are educating the public on the critical role sharks play in our ocean’s ecosystems. Government officials are also implementing protective regulations for endangered shark species, and in recent years, over 30 countries have placed full or partial bans on finning.

Research is also an important part of protecting and preserving shark species. A few years ago, Georgia Aquarium teams traveled to the Bimini Shark Lab in Bimini, Bahamas to study a variety of shark species and how pollution with microplastics affects them. Georgia Aquarium researchers were also the first to fully sequence the shark genome from blood drawn from its whale sharks, which scientists now use to study health implications with sharks and their unique adaptations.

It is imperative, now more than ever, that we spread the message on the importance of sharks to our ocean. At Georgia Aquarium, our Sharks! Predators of the Deep gallery serves to transform our guests’ view of sharks from fear to fascination. Many of the shark species in our one-million-gallon exhibit are endangered and serve as important ambassadors. By providing a deeper understanding of sharks, we hope to inspire compassion and create advocates to share our message of conservation.

Learn more about the decline of sharks and their importance to our ocean:

Reef Sharks Being Pushed to Brink of Extinction, New Research Shows

New Global Study Finds Unprecedented Shark and Ray Extinction Risk

Sharks & Rays in Rapid Global Decline: IUCN Report

 

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Published on Jul 24, 2023.