Focht Family Blog

I have always loved dolphins so for my birthday my mom gave me the Dolphins in Depth tour at Epcot. The tour is limited to 8 participants a day and the dolphins are not required to interact with you. They start out showing you the filters outside and then take you to the backstage part of the tanks. The tanks are so wide that they could put Spaceship Earth inside and still have room around the edges to walk or drive a bus. They have 4 male dolphins since they are mostly a research facility. We then get to learn about dolphin anatomy and environment. They show you what they eat and how they train them.

Next we get to observe a training session where one of the older dolphins, Calvin, is showing a younger dolphin, Mallomar, how to use echolocation. Calvin has his eyes covered and is then sent to echolocate a PVC shape. Once the shape is pulled from the pool he then swims to the other side where 3 choices are hanging. He has to decide which shape matches the first one. While we watched he got all but one right. Mallomar then gets a chance to try without his eyes being covered. The tour guide says he usually picks the one on the left. He has figured out that if he always chooses the one on the left that he will be right 1 out of 3 times. As he put it… he is figuring out how to play the game, he just hasn’t figured out how to win the game.

Next it was time to get dressed in our swimsuits and wetsuits. They provide you with a wetsuit and water boots, not a flattering look for anyone. Once in the water we take turns getting our pictures taken with the dolphins. Here is my picture with Keiberg. He is 16 and weighs 503 lbs.

They take the picture before your interactions because you end up getting splashed by the dolphins while interacting. We got to spend time with both of the dolphins that were in the main tank. We were able to rub the backs of both of them as rewards and we got to practice hand signals with both. The other dolphin we worked with was Ranier. He is the alpha male. He is 20 and weighs about 480 lbs. It is absolutely amazing to sit and hold 500 lbs of muscle. They are beautiful animals. Now I am even more anxious for Josh to be old enough to go to Discovery Cove. :)