Georgia Aquarium Internship: Mid Second Week!

So, it's only halfway through my second week, but so much has happened already within the first few days! My roommate/co-intern, Brittany and I got to go into the Beluga Whale tank and do a Beluga & Friends Program! That's where guests go into the water with a trainer and stand on a ledge and the trainer has the whales do different behaviors and the guests get to help the trainer with the hand signals, interact, pet and feed the whales. I've done this program at SeaWorld back in Orlando, and I all I can say is that Georgia knows where it's at! I had an awesome time at SeaWorld in Orlando, but here at GAQ, the program is more intimate. Like I said, guests get to actually stand in the water, face to face on the whale's level. At SW we were only kneeling on a ledge. We got to do it both days. The reason we got to do it was because they wanted to get the whales more comfortable doing it. It was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to doing it again! GAQ has four Beluga Whales and 3 Harbor Seals. The names of the Belugas are Beethoven, Maris, Grayson and Qinu and the Seals are Cerberus, Floyd and Rose. Beethoven and Maris are the older of the Belugas and Qinu and Grayson as the younger ones. My favorite is Qinu. She is very vocal, as are all Belugas but she's even more vocal than the others. We walk in and start doing morning tasks, or walk by her, or clean the acrylics and she's got her head out of the water looking at you and starts clicking. It's the cutest thing in the world and she's very nosey. She also LOVES tongue rubs. A tongue rub is a secondary reinforcer, food being a primary. She's always got a ton of energy and she's very smart; the trainers told me that she picks up on behaviors very fast. As for the Seals, we haven't done much with them but my favorite is Cerb because he's chubby!

It's not all fun and games though. 90% of our day is doing food prep; looking over the fish, making sure there is no fish without eyes, or lacerations or guts falling out, we have to throw those fish out, and cleaning buckets along with cleaning period (acrylics, floors, fridge, kitchen, buckets, bathrooms and anything else that needs to be done). The other 10% is training sessions. It may seem like a lot of boring-ness and cleaning but to be able to see these whales 5 days a week is the best feeling ever. I LOVE what I am doing here and I am so very thankful that I got the chance to be here, it's life changing and I wouldn't change it for the world.

I am in Love with what I do. I can't wait to make it a career.