On a Dolphin Adventure
The Indianapolis Zoo’s dolphin trainers dive into the task of teaching and caring for the mammals, including Taz the orphan
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As Stacey Green makes her way around the pools of the Indianapolis Zoo, Nova and China, two of seven Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in residence there, swim to the edge and raise their heads from the water like nosy ladies.
“Dolphins are amazing animals,” Stacey says with a laugh. “See? They look at you like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ They’re very curious, and I just love that.”
On a typical workday, Stacey can be found sloshing in and out of the zoo’s saltwater pools, frequently clad in a fish-scented wet suit.
Promoted recently to area manager for dolphins, Stacey happily notes that she has a dream job. She’s diligently worked to get to this place in her career –– the Dolphin Adventure Pavilion at the Indianapolis Zoo.
Wiggling into wet suits at least four times each day to entertain animal-loving zoo visitors during dolphin shows is only a small responsibility in the daily life of a dolphin trainer.
There’s a lot of not-so-glamorous work behind the scenes, such as cleaning tanks and pools and sorting fish for feeding times. In addition to spending hours of patience and focus training dolphins for shows, trainers take animal blood samples when necessary and also teach dolphins to cooperate for ultrasound tests.
Recently, Stacey, Mary Ann Scharenbroch-Gillum and the other trainers have added a new task to their daily routine –– caring for Taz, who, at 6 months old, was found stranded on a sandbar at the J. Darling Nature Reserve on Sanibel Island, Fla.
Animal-loving roots
After growing up in Chicago and studying animal science at Iowa State University, Stacey set her sights on becoming a veterinarian.
But when she wasn’t accepted into the highly competitive veterinary science program, dolphin training came to mind.
“I loved the dolphin shows at the zoo when I was a child,” she says. “I still remember all the names of the dolphins too.”
With her blond hair tied back in a ponytail, Stacey trudges the few steps from her office to the pavilion, wearing her usual dry-land attire –– sweats and a T-shirt with wading boots. She often shares tips with curious visitors about how to break into this field, which also is highly competitive. And she appreciates the fact that her career is a guaranteed conversation starter among friends and new neighbors.
Like Stacey, Mary Ann loves to come to work every day.
Now a senior dolphin trainer, Mary Ann describes herself as a lifelong animal lover. She grew up on the south side of Indianapolis, always enjoying trips to visit her mother’s native Hawaii and an uncle’s farm in Wisconsin.
But Mary Ann set her passion for animals aside when she made the decision after high school to follow her brothers into the engineering profession.
Though she was very successful in her career, well traveled and also well paid, Mary Ann admits that her heart was never entirely committed to engineering.
After spending grueling workweeks in large, well-known companies, she searched for some way to fulfill a longtime need. She opted to spend Sunday afternoons volunteering at the zoo. It was a way to give herself at least a few hours of what she loved most –– bonding with animals.
“I lived for Sundays,” Mary Ann says. “Any time I could catch a dolphin show, I would. I always said if I could be at the zoo every day, I would.”
After working more than two years as a volunteer with an obvious natural affinity with animals, Mary Ann was offered a shot at the career she thought she would never have.
She immediately accepted the opportunity.
With no regrets, Mary Ann laughs and recalls the drastic pay cut.
She left the stability of corporate America to spend every day peacefully, quietly, in the water with dolphins. It is a dream she has never stopped loving.
Time with Taz
The trainers’ responsibilities were heightened even further when Taz came into the care of the zoo.
With a specially mixed formula in a feeding tube, the trainers work split shifts to care for the dolphin. Each of them gets into the water to cradle and feed Taz, now 11 months old.
Whether dolphins are born in the carefully monitored saltwater pools of zoo environments or they enter the world in the ocean, “survival rate at birth is 50/50,” Stacey says.
When Taz was found motherless, marine mammal professionals understood that keeping him alive and healthy would require a quick plan of action. The day he was found, Jan. 13, Florida’s Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission transported Taz from Sanibel Island to the Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory.
He was 6 months old, measured 55 inches long and weighed 90 pounds. He also was fighting infection.
Staff at Mote immediately treated Taz with antibiotics. They also provided formula and constant monitoring.
Normally, dolphin calves stay with their mothers for three to six years, not only to nurse but to learn how to feed themselves, fend for themselves and navigate their way through the water.
Even if Taz began to thrive in the carefully monitored environment at the laboratory, the staff at Mote knew he could not be returned alone to the ocean. He would not have the skills to survive.
So they looked for a home for the orphaned dolphin.
During that process, the track record of the dolphin pavilion at the Indianapolis Zoo caught the attention of Southwest Florida professionals.
Since 2000, three dolphin calves born in the dolphin pavilion have thrived: Kalei, born in November 2000 to Nova; Indy, born in August 2001 to China; and the only male, Jett, born in February 2002 to Ripley.
When the Indianapolis Zoo was chosen over several other facilities as the most appropriate new home for Taz, Hoosier dolphin trainers were ecstatic, Stacey admits.
“Our matriarch, Nova, is very good at rearing calves,” she says proudly. “Our female dolphins spontaneously lactate. And also, Nova could teach Taz how to be a dolphin. He’s only been around humans.”
A new home
After six weeks of medical intervention at Mote, Taz was declared ready for travel.
In late, icy February, he arrived at Indianapolis International Airport in a water-filled container and transported by truck to the dolphin pavilion.
Eager trainers gently plunked the 100-pound baby into the medical pool and promptly fell in love with his rambunctious personality.
“I love everything about him,” Mary Ann says. “We don’t know how long he was stranded, but he has continued to thrive. Taz is an amazing animal with an amazingly strong will.”
Taz continues to be closely monitored in the medical pool. He is cuddled, coddled and fussed over, fed every two hours and weighed every Tuesday.
He has gained 36 pounds since arriving in Indiana, Stacey says of the little guy whose photo is her computer screensaver.
Right now, trainers are attempting to teach Taz to eat fish along with supplemental feedings of formula. Though he has seen the female dolphins in the pool next to his, Taz has not been reintroduced to his fellow species.
“Once we get Taz eating fish and coming to us to feed, we will move him so that he is with one of the female dolphins and he can learn how to be a dolphin,” Stacey says.
As she watches Taz bop in and out of the water, playing with a hoop and ball, Stacey adds with a grin, “Taz fits his name. He’s very playful and spunky. He likes to have his back and his fins rubbed. And he loves to interact with people.”
Take Your Turn
Dolphin lovers, take note.
The Indianapolis Zoo’s Dolphin Adventure In-Water Adventure program allows zoo visitors the chance to get in the water with the dolphins and dolphin trainers.
The 90-minute session includes a backstage classroom portion to learn about dolphins’ physical characteristics and adaptations to their aquatic life, time to change in and out of a wetsuit, and 35 minutes of poolside and water time.
Participants must be at least 4 feet, 6 inches tall. Kids 14 and older who meet the height requirement do not need an adult to accompany them. Kids younger than 14 need to be accompanied by an adult either in the water or as an observer.
For non-zoo members, the cost is $205 to participate or $35 to observe.
For more information, call (317) 630-2076 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday or log on indyzoo.com.
Through Life and Loss
After a pregnancy that lasted more than 11 months, Nova gave birth on June 3 to a male calf. Just shy of 3 weeks old, the calf passed away under circumstances that were, at the time, unknown to the zoo staff.
In its first few months, survival of a baby dolphin can be very uncertain. But Nova’s calf had gained 15 pounds since birth, and staff members were “cautiously optimistic,” according to Judy Gagen, the zoo’s communications director.
The staff has continued to monitor the dolphins to ensure they are healthy and behaving appropriately, Gagen says. She calls the loss “very sad” but notes the staff takes solace in the fact that Taz is doing well.
