Bubble Rings

Juno our newest and youngest whale at the aquarium is such a little ham. He loves all the attention from everyone and always interacts with guests at the windows. This past week, we all discovered a neat little game he likes to play. He likes to blow bubbles rings. It is seriously the coolest thing I have seen. And these bubble rings that he makes are perfect circles and expand while underwater. Then he likes to play with the rings -- he'll try biting at them or try to get his pec through the bubble ring. I have seen a couple belugas do this on youtube and someplace in Japan they actually trained them to blow bubbles rings while underwater using diving regulators. I've heard some of the whales in Canada where Juno was born can do this. So he probably learned to make bubble rings while there. I hope he can teach the girls how to do it!

During this past week I got the chance to do a practice encounter program with Juno. I got to suit up in my waders and get in the water with Juno! He is going to be an awesome contact animal once he is fully trained for the contact programs. He is so comfortable in the lip (where contact programs are held) and is just full of personality. He has some big fins to fill in replacing Inuk but I think he'll do great :)

I learned a couple new behaviors over this past week -- a couple games, a vocal, and double high-5! One of the games I got passed was frisbee spit. This is where you hold a frisbee to the side and the whales are to spit water at the frisbee target. When I first did the frisbee spit with Kela, she missed the target completely and drenched my knee. Thanks Kela! But at this point I'm used to coming back home with wet clothes and pants -- especially when I'm working with Naku. She'll spit water out onto the beach or you knees after getting fish. Or when shes finished with a behavior and comes back to me for fish, she make a huge tsunami wave that comes crashing on the beach and soaks my pants and shoes. But I love every minute (or drop I should say) of it!

I had the unique opportunity to meet a National Geographic photographer the other day -- Paul Nicklen. The aquarium was offering tickets to staff to attend the photographer's talk about his adventures and pictures from the polar regions. It was very interesting to listen to him tell all the stories behind his pictures and how much he has gone through to get these amazing pictures. He shared many of his experiences he went through to get never before seen pictures of life in the polar regions -- like diving in the freezing water, standing on an ice float with a walrus, and getting a penguin offereing from a leopard seal. It was amazing. And he's such an awesome speaker and storyteller! He also talked about the issues surrounding global warming and the environmental effects in the polar regions. Its scary to think how much ice is melting and how its effecting life. After the presentation, I gave in and bought his new book, Polar Obsession, that he signed for me. Its a huge coffee table book full of his pictures and stories! And on that note, I will end the blog reminding you to help protect our oceans and save the polar life -- especially those belugas and polar bears! :)