Castaway continues to expand her horizons at Dolphin’s Plus. Her roommates have expanded to include dolphins Sarah, Samantha, L.B., Ding, and our new calf Julie, as well as Sugar the sea lion! Castaway continues to learn new behaviors everyday and seems to be greatly enjoying the learning process. Some of her new favorite behaviors include, jumping, vocalizing, fluke presentations and blowing bubbles. Since arriving at Dolphin’s Plus Castaway has more than tripled her behavior repertoire.
Castaway is only the second known case of a deaf dolphin in a managed care facility. Therefore, this is a new frontier for everyone involved! Due to Castaway’s inability to hear, husbandry training continues to be challenging. The new training techniques developed to work with Castaway were presented at the 2008 IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers Association) conference to a great reception!
Overall, Castaway has become a much beloved member of our finned family! We learn more about her everyday and look forward to sharing her unique story with all of our customers.