Thursday, July 30, 2009

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Sea lion turns one at Dolphin Encounters By THEA RUTHERFORD ~ Guardian National Correspondent ~ thea@nasguard.com: Slick and sweet, one-year-old Milo slipped into the waters of one of the small coves at Dolphin Encounters' Blue Lagoon Island last Tuesday, and onto the platform where he would celebrate his first birthday before well-wishers who had gathered on the bleachers above. Three rows of children from one of the Dolphin Encounters summer programs joined staff members in singing happy birthday to the baby California sea lion. Milo rewarded the group with a few tricks, including gulping down the fish "candle" that topped his plastic and foam-covered "cake." "What you saw today, for a one-year-old, that's pretty amazing," said Milo's primary trainer and marine mammal director at Dolphin Encounters, Kim Terrell. "He saw the cake for the first time yesterday, we had all these people around, all these people upstairs, the happy birthday singing, that's all things new in his environment." During his birthday ceremony, complete with members of the press shooting footage and snapping photographs - something that Milo, who Terrell said had started interviews at the age of six months, was used to - the sea lion also gave a kiss to his 580-pound father, Murray. "It's absolutely amazing working with a baby animal," said Terrell of training Milo. "Once they learn the concept of eating so they can be reinforced, they're very eager; they're like little sponges. So the best thing about babies is that you can work with multiple behaviors at the same time. Just like children they have a very short attention span so if you work on the same thing constantly they get bored." After learning basic training, said Terrell, Milo "took off." The first sea lion to be born in The Bahamas, Milo's birthday is particularly special. He is one of seven California sea lion residents on Blue Lagoon. His parents, Murray and Magnolia, were among the group of sea lions displaced from Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina who came to live at Blue Lagoon in September 2006. Named for the country's first Governor-General, Sir Milo Butler, Milo, the sea lion, was given a name as special as his birth. He and his fellow creatures have added a new twist to the attractions offered at the 20-year-old Dolphin Encounters, home to 18 dolphins. "Milo's first birthday is a big milestone in his life and for our marine mammal family," said Robert Meister, Managing Director of Dolphin Encounters, in a press release announcing his first birthday. "His birth is significant as it marks the beginning of a new generation of our sea lions. We are delighted that we could share this day with local children, visiting guests and of course our animal training staff, who take excellent care of Milo and all of our marine mammals." Milo has already completed 40 behaviors and will be taught up to 70. At any given time, said Terrell, he is in the process of learning 20 new ones. "From now the sky's the limit. He will be an interactive animal," she said. Tuesday, June 30, 2009