News - Calves Turn 1!!!
07/14/2009: Dolphin Calves turn 1!!!
Marineland’s three dolphin calves turn 1 year old!
Marineland is proud to announce a hugely successful year for its three Atlantic bottlenose dolphin calves: Tocoi, Aqe, and Tomo! All three calves' names are words in the Timucuan Indian language, a local nation of Indians that lived in the Saint Augustine area.
Tocoi ("water lily") is our only female and was the first born of the three new calves. We celebrated her first birthday on June 11th by showing her a banner our SEA campers created with beautiful drawings and a marquis of "Happy Birthday Tocoi!". Despite Tocoi being the eldest calf, she still has shown no interest in fish! Her training has relied heavily on the relationship built with her trainers, and her love of ice cubes and hula hoops. She currently knows ten behaviors and is learning several more. The most important behavior she is learning is how to eat fish! Dolphin calves do not instinctively begin eating fish, they have to learn how to do it. Tocoi's trainers have made playing with fish (and eventually eating it!) into a game. You may see her trainers toss out pieces of fish, enticing Tocoi to rush out after them and "fetch" them back. She is rewarded for holding onto fish for long periods of time by her favorite reinforcer: ice cubes! In her free time, Tocoi plays with her dolphin friends (young and old alike!) and can often be found flirting with the crowd on a busy day. She has been known to throw her toys over the acrylic windows to any lucky guests by her habitat, trying to start a game of catch.
Aqe ("storm") was born six days after Tocoi, and we celebrated his first birthday on June 17th with a big ice cake stuffed with jello.
Why would we name a dolphin "storm"? Aqe's namesake comes from the fact that on the day he was born, a large storm blew in through Marineland. With the help of his mother Betty, Aqe fared the storm well and became the first calf at Marineland to eat at 2 months old! Aqe is now eating over three pounds of fish and has learned 11 behaviors and is learning many more at a rapid pace. He is the only calf currently that can do an entire interaction program by himself! In fact, he is often ready to participate in interaction sessions long before any of the adults. You can often find him relaxing on the beach in our main habitat, watching the trainers and guests pass by. Aqe plays a lot with the other calves, and often swims with other adults (including Nellie!) as well.
Tomo ("guide") celebrated his first birthday on June 26th with a SEA camp banner decorated with campers' drawings and a big bubble-lettered "Happy Birthday Tomo!" While Tomo is the youngest dolphin at Marineland, he is bar-none the largest on all accounts: his size, girth, and personality! Tomo is eating fish and learning new behaviors every day, and currently knows six behaviors with more on the way! He has begun interacting with guests during interaction programs and seems to enjoy getting a lot of rubdowns. He enjoys playing with the other calves and seems to get excited whenever trainers let jets of water stream out from a hose. We can't tell if he's having more fun trying to catch the water in his mouth or letting the water stream run all over his body! Tomo spends much of his time playing and rough-housing with Aqe, but also spends a lot of time with his mother Dazzle.
Marineland is very happy to have the opportunity to watch the growth of these calves in both the physical and mental sense. Each dolphin has their own unique personalities and learning styles. They learn from one another, and often surprise their trainers with how quickly they pick up new behaviors. First birthdays for dolphin calves are huge milestones in their lives, and we look forward to celebrating many more milestones with them as they continue to grow, learn, and play!
