Baby Dolphin prepares to join show at Dubai Dolphinarium

Baby Dolphin prepares to join at pod of four adults at an interactive show at Dubai Dolphinarium in May 17, 2013.

Transcript

00:00Here at Dubai Dolphinarium we had a dolphin calf that was born on the 28th of May 2012

00:20so he's just going on a year old.

00:22He was born at around 8.52 in the morning.

00:25The female dolphin, we knew that she was pregnant and we put her into a separate maternity

00:30pool waiting for the birth.

00:32And then one morning I came into work and she rolled over and the little fluke, the

00:36dolphin's tail was sticking out basically.

00:40I phoned my manager, he was stuck in traffic and of course he raced to get here.

00:44And yeah, it was a very, very easy birth, it was textbook, everything went absolutely

00:48perfectly.

00:49Xuxa, the mother, was pregnant for around 12 months, this is normal for dolphin gestation.

00:55And we've slowly been integrating the dolphin, the calf, back into the rest of the dolphin

00:59pod.

01:00Dolphins are very social animals and here at the Dolphinarium we have to ensure that

01:04their social structure is always kept to the best that it can possibly be.

01:09So at the moment what we're doing is we're bringing the baby out into the big pool with

01:12the rest of the dolphins, introducing him to the new sights, the lights, the bigger

01:17pool.

01:18The maternity pool at the back is smaller than this pool and this is just for better

01:21management of the calf.

01:23So yeah, he's learning the ropes very, very quickly and soon he'll be in the shows and

01:27the public can come and see him.

01:29People often ask how we train our dolphins.

01:31We do this through a method called positive reinforcement and operant conditioning.

01:35It's basically based around, essentially in life, if you go to work, you work to get paid.

01:41In the wild, dolphins hunt to catch fish.

01:43So we use the same process here.

01:46We use positive reinforcement, which could be fish, it could be ice blocks, it could

01:49be toys, anything that is motivating for the dolphins to come out and work during the show.

01:55It's also very important to work with them.

01:57We become an extension of their pod and their group and by working together as a team we

02:02are enabled to put the show on for you and make it positive for the dolphins.

02:06It's good exercise for them, it's good mental stimulation and then after the shows they

02:10go back, they relax, do a little bit more training and yeah, that's how we do it here

02:14at the Dolphinarium.