The true nature of the whale called killer
I've always been good with animals; dogs, cats, horses, reptiles, they all like me. However, I could see from my first encounter with a dolphin years ago that it was different with them. Eye contact got a seemingly deeper connection. Deeper than I get with other animals. I visited the local marine park as often as I could just to spend time at the petting pool, getting to know them individually and provided an interesting diversion for them for a while to alleviate some of what would be for me if I were in their situation, the boredom of captivity.
Then, while in college in San Diego, I was shocked to see when revisiting Sea World that there were also two young orcas in the public access petting pool. Of course this was in the fall of 1979, and things were different at the parks then. The public was allowed to be much closer to cetaceans than they are allowed now. I was told by the attendant that they were 4-6 years old. So this meant to me they were fairly new captures.
Years later when I met someone who could identify them from pictures I had of them. I learned their names and that they had been in captivity around two years at that time. The four orcas I got to know are:
This was a dream come true for me because at that time I wanted to be a trainer, although not any longer. While I am against captivity, this provided me a unique opportunity to get to know dozens of cetaceans, and especially four young orcas. That would not have been possible otherwise, to do without having to be a trainer.
An Interaction Primer
I spent thousands of hours at the various park tanks getting to know them, despite the weather. Rain or shine, I was at the tank as often as I could be, all day, every weekend. I especially enjoyed time with the orcas, or for as long as I could stand the cold and wet, which was longer than most with my partial wetsuit under my clothes. I was there for the interaction, not to trick them over with fish. Earning their trust, friendship, and my place in their social structure. I showed them that I trusted them not to hurt me, and they tested me on this trust often and in many different ways. They reciprocated showing their trust of me in many ways as well. Over time, this grew so that we both trusted each other within the limits of the location. Up to allowing them to grab my arm in their mouth up to the elbow while they let me scratch their tongue. I became so well trusted by them that they would sometimes lay their flukes in my arms for a rub down. On several occasion they even tried to get me into the water by pulling firmly on my arm. An invitation that I had to reluctantly decline because of where we were, not that I was in any way afraid to get in the water with them.
I will mention at this point that I was under constant observation by the exhibit monitor and when the orcas were coming to me regularly, from across the tank by staff from the orca show. Had I been doing any thing improper or unsafe I would have been challenged by them and possibly ejected from the park or banned entirely. This never happened. I believe they were there trying to learn how I was so good with the orcas as I never used fish to coerce them to interact. Whenever I went over towards them in an attempt to talk to them, they quickly walked away.
I have always considered cetaceans of intelligence at least equal to that of Humans or even possibly superior. They've been around 25 Million Years in their present evolutionary state and Humans have been around a paltry 800 Thousand. We could learn something from this.
I never fed the dolphins I've gotten to know. I did not want to be associated with being a food source and the control issues that raises, I used tactile interaction only.
All these cetaceans were familiar with me before any these incidents, having spent so much time at the pool, I knew and trusted each of them very well. When you can't talk to each other, all that is left is eye contact, body language, and actual touch. Having a good "Poker Face" is also important. By that I mean the ability to stand your ground, be calm and in so doing show your trust. Not just look calm but be calm. Some of the tests of your trust can be nerve racking the first time they are encountered.
Always have your fingernails well manicured. A rough nail can cause problems and be misinterpreted by them. Never forget it's an entirely different culture.
Somethings they do may be personally shocking at first. Don't forget you're dealing with a totally alien culture. They are more open about somethings than humans usually are. They are not doing it to insult or shock you. It is just how they do things.
My usual stance at the pool is with my arms in the water most of the time. Reaching out offering my hand underwater where they can see and sonar it. You have to get wet if you're gonna work with cetaceans. I do this to give them the choice of contact or not. It is also a show of my trust of them.
The development of mutual trust is a progression. One level of trust leading to a higher level of trust and so on. By letting them lead the way, I am letting them set the pace. It must progress equally on both sides or it will not progress at all. I just kept reaching out to show I was ready and they would swim by, maybe close enough to touch, maybe not. It was like a game. No matter how far out I reached, they could always stay just one inch further out whenever they wanted.
Unlimited Trust
Kotar seemed to revel in pushing the limits of those who interacted with him and trusted him. Playing his game of trying see how much people would put up with or maybe getting them to show fear.
During one visit he seemed to particularly enjoy me rubbing his tongue, though perhaps it was just a prelude to get me to drop my guard in preparation to what he did next. After several rounds of tongue rubbing and him swimming off to work the crowd for fish, the next time he came up, he gently closed his mouth on my arm while I was rubbing his tongue. Now this had happened many times in the past with the bottlenose dolphins so I was not overly concerned about my safety as I knew him well by this time and trusted him (as he trusted me by allowing me to rub his tongue) and he had done this so that my arm was in the gap at the tip of his mouth were there are no teeth but just the hard bone of the jaw. We were looking each other in the eye as I continued to rub his tongue.
Then he slowly began using his tongue to press my hand against the roof of his mouth. I stopped rubbing thinking that is what he wanted and waited to see what he was going to do. He slowly began to press harder and harder, eventually adding pressure with his jaw, never letting up. This was not a problem at first, but after a bit it began to be uncomfortable. Then it started to be painful. I held out as long as I could but when I thought my arm might break, I firmly pressed my fingertips into his tongue in an attempt to let him know it hurt. He immediately stopped squeezing but did not let me go so I stopped pressing into his tongue. All through this we had eye contact.
After a few seconds he began squeezing again. When it got to a firm but still comfortable level, but still much lower than the first time, I gently pressed my fingertip into his tongue and he stopped squeezing and I stopped pressing when he did. He seemed genuinely surprised at the difference between the two times. After a few seconds he opened his mouth releasing me. I did not immediately remove my hand but instead gave his tongue a good rub to let him know I was not hurt or upset by what he had done. Though it never bruised, the place on my arm where he had been pressing with his jaw was sore for days after this.
Most interesting about this is the fact that after this incident none of the other orcas ever grabbed me harder than the comfort level I had established with Kotar. It seems he was in some way able to pass this information onto the other orcas.
It is documented in the files on Kasatka and Katina that on several occasions they, as it is written in the files, “mouthed” a body part of a trainer but never actually injured them. I can only feel that this is result of their having learned from Kotar how grab a human without injuring them and is a result of what Kotar learned from me.
Getting The Point Across
Kotar seemed to always like pushing the envelope of trust. Seeing how far he could press someone in their trust of him. A couple weeks after the above incident, while rubbing his tongue with both hands, he turned his head to the side so my right hand slid across his teeth, each about the size of my thumb, and my fingers between them. He started closing his mouth trapping my fingers and I quickly made a fist and put at the tip of his jaw so he could not close all the way. He was still able to close enough so I could feel the points of the upper teeth pressing into the backs of my fingers, not a lot but enough to prevent me from pulling my fingers out without getting some severe cuts on the backs of them.
Even though my fist was preventing him from closing his mouth for the movement, had he wanted to, there would have been nothing I could have done to stop him from biting off my fingers. He had the strength advantage and there was nothing I could have done other than trust him as I have before to not hurt me. We stared each other in the eye for a few seconds and then he began squeezing as he had done before.
As young as they were at the time, they still had the needle-like sharp points on their teeth so this did hurt. He had both my hands immobilized and there was little I could do. I did the only thing I could do, with the thumb of my right hand I began pressing the nail into his gums to try and let him know it hurt so he would know to stop. He did stop but again did not immediately let me go. After a few seconds, which seemed a lot longer at the time, he opened his mouth. I rubbed his tongue to let him know I was ok and was not upset and stepped back to take a break. The impression on the backs of my fingers from the points of the teeth remained for some time before going away.
Reverse Training
One orca, possibly Kotar again I don’t know, demanded a blowhole massage once and this was one area I was always careful to avoid ever touching. This may have been Canuck II, I did not know their names at this point. He would swim slowly by and press against my hands and then stop whenever one of my hands passed over his blowhole area. I would then move my hand forwards or backwards off of it and continue rubbing his side. He'd stay a few moments then swim off and come around and do it again. After a few cycles of this he began to gently bump my hand whenever I slid it forward off his blowhole area. I recognized his hand bump (what Sea World refers to as a "pre-cursor") as a "you're not getting it" signal I had gotten from interactions I have had with other dolphins. On the next pass when he stopped under my hand, instead of moving off it, I gently went in circles around it still keeping clear of the actual opening. He began pressing a little harder against my hand indicating that is what he wanted.
I kept ready to jerk my hand back if he took a breath not wanting to interfere with his breathing in any way. My concern was unfounded as upon his next breath he simply rolled away so my hand was well clear and took a breath then rolled back for me to continue. I knew then to simply stop whenever he started to roll away. It was at this point that I notices his blowhole area formed a slight depression when closed. He had no way to rub against anything in the tank to slough of the dead skin from that area. This was the purpose of this whole chain of events. He wanted me to groom that area for him, so I did. I have no idea how long this continued, maybe 10-15 minutes, he did roll away twice to breathe. When he'd had enough, he rolled away and swam off.
Several conclusions come from this :
1. He trusted me enough to allow me to touch a very sensitive and personal area.
2. He used the approximation training method to get me to do a specific behavior he wanted. Groom his blowhole area.
3. He got me over my concern about touching that area of his body.
4. He demonstrated his trust of me by training me to touch his blowhole area.
5. This shows a level of higher thought equal to humans. He had to plan this out just as a human trainer would. He may have leaned this from him being trained to do specific behaviors.
6. Just who is training who.
On more than one occasion they even tried inviting me into the water. This invitation was accomplished by gently grabbing my arm in their mouth and gently pulling. On one occasion, two tried this at the same time and almost succeeded. It was very hard to say no to them but going in would have meant being permanently banned from the parks. At no time was I worried that they would intentionally harm me. I say intentionally as they are bigger and stronger than humans and could accidentally injure me as has happened in the past with other dolphins I've gotten to know over the years. I made mistakes along the way and have my own rake marks to show for it. It was a learning experience for both sides. They tested me often and I was able to teach them about how fragile humans are compared to them. When one grabbed an arm up to the elbow in his mouth testing my trust, I was able to teach him how much pressure I could stand and what level I was comfortable with. Afterwards I was never grabbed harder than the comfort level I had established, by any of them, so they obviously were able to exchange this information amount themselves.
A Pressing Issue
Touch is very important to cetaceans and is a big show of trust. They don't let just anyone rub their tongue or even just touch them without a great deal of trust in that person through that person having already shown them trust. Sometimes they may even press the issue for a person in whom they have extreme trust if for some reason they may feel the level of trust is not balanced on both sides. For it to work properly, an equal level trust must be shown from both individuals in the other.
I had this happen with Katina once myself. I was reaching out as she was swimming by close enough to touch. Suddenly she surged up and beached herself on the underwater ledge in front of me. It happened so fast I had no time to react. She landed on my forearm and pushed my upper arm back against the tank wall with the precision of a gymnast without hurting me. It felt like someone had laid a 100 pound bag of rice over my arm. I could feel the weight and was unable to move but it was not crushing my arm or painful.
Now, there are certain areas on their body you do not touch out of respect and with severe consequences if you do and I had always been very careful to avoid these areas despite the occasional offering such areas by an individual for touch as a show of trust, just not appropriate in that setting. I suddenly realized my arm was very close to one of these areas and I panicked. I vainly tried pulling out but there was no way and I fully expected to get hit by that tail up side my head that was just 5 feet (1.5 M) to my left. While struggling to get out, I suddenly realized about 10 seconds had passed and I hadn't been hit. I turned to look at her head and she was looking directly at me with sort of a 'gotcha' look in her eye.
Ultimately I think she felt the levels of trust were ‘out of balance’ and she did this to show me how much she trusted me since I had shown great trust in her and the others by allowing them to grab my arm in their mouth and from her point of view I had failed to acknowledge this level of trust so she forced it upon me.
A Mother’s Wrath
A bottlenose dolphin had given birth in the petting pool. The park, probably having realized too late she was pregnant, was probably afraid to move her out fearing a miscarriage. Eventually she began showing it off by swimming close by the edge of the tank with the calf riding along in mom's slipstream on the side towards the edge of the tank. Always just out of reach as usual, another game?
On one pass, the baby pooped as it was passing front of me. I thought to myself "why you little stinker, that's not polite". I reached down and gently caught its right fluke in the web of my right thumb for a split second and pulled away. This extra drag caused him to drop out of mom's slipstream and stop moving. This startled him as he froze for a moment and then with a couple quick tail pumps was gone. Mom immediately spun around and came up over by my left arm in the water. I could see she was a bit upset with me when I made eye contact and she proceeded to do a mock rake on my left arm to show her displeasure with me at what I had done.
I knew to keep completely still at this point. To try and move away while she was doing this meant risking turning my arm into hamburger. Remaining still showed her I trusted she would not actually hurt me. She stopped moving with her mouth open and my elbow halfway in staring at me. I put my elbow all the way in until it touched the teeth at the back of her mouth to show I understood and submitted myself to her reprimand. This surprised her as she quickly backed up (not something easy for a cetaceans to do) and got completely off my arm and just stayed there staring at me. I looked back to my right and the calf had returned was hovering out of reach nearby watching. Mom is still hovering off to my left watching us. I slowly reach my right hand out toward the calf. Then I felt something grab my left hand. I stopped and looked over and it is mom holding the palm of my left hand in the end of her mouth looking at me. I gently closed my hand around her lower jaw so there is no accidental slippage and scratch her under the chin with my right letting her know I understand. I reach back over towards the calf and waited. It (I never learned the sex of it) hovered about six inches away for a few seconds then slowly approached. I gave it a melon rub and a gentle scratch under the chin.
This went on for a minute or so and then the calf swam off. Mom opened her jaws to let me go. I pulled her a bit closer and gave her a few good rubs to show my appreciation at what she had done. I opened my hand and she swam off.
The Penny, Thoughts Optional
Dolphins do have the concept of possessions, just because they have something you might not think they should have, don't try and take it away. Margret Howe learned this with Peter when for a time he took possession of her diving mask.
A quiet day at the petting pool. Not too many people around. It was foggy and wet today. Good for me, few people around the tank.
One of the younger dolphins swims up and drops a penny on the underwater ledge in front of me. Where did he get a penny? Did some other visitor drop one in on purpose? Cetaceans are sometimes trained to bring any trash in the tank up to staff. They are given fish for bringing it in. Does he consider me staff because he knows me almost as well? Or is this another game? Some people might be worried he could swallow it. I know they're smarter than that. He's floating there in front of me about two feet (0.6 M) away looking at me, waiting for me to do something.
I had to be very discrete about this. If another visitor or staff saw the penny it could be a big problem. I could just remove it. No, it's his possession, can't do that, he brought it to me. Can't let staff walk by and see it there, then they'd think I put it in. I swish my hand in the water to wash it off the ledge and into deeper water. He gets excited and watches the penny float down a short way, then swims after it. He brings it back up and drops it on the ledge again. I swish my hand again and wash it off again. He goes to get it and brings it back again. Ok, could be a game, or he could still be trying for a fish. He's not opening his mouth like he's expecting a fish, so it must be a game. I pick it up and hold it in my hand out of the water. He continues to watch me, so I try to make up a new game. I put my hands together out of the water so he can't scan them and switch the coin to my other hand. I make two fists and put them back in the water. He moves a little closer and I can see his head moving left and right as he looks at each hand and presumably scans them with sonar. He moves in to touch his beak to one hand, the hand with the penny. I open my hand to show it to him and drop it in the water off the ledge. He seems happy with this.
He swims down to get it and brings it back again. I randomly choose a hand and put two fists in the water. Again he picks the correct hand. Time after time he picks the hand with the penny. Simple to do with sonar. Maybe not the best game but we were having fun.
One time instead of picking it up I washed it off the ledge while acting like I was picking it up out of the water as usual. I made my two fists and put them back in the water. He scanned my left, then scanned my right. He seemed confused as he couldn't find the penny and repeatedly scanned both hands. I opened my hands and he turned so he could see my empty hands with his eye. He looked from one to the other, then turned a bit more to survey the ledge around us, then back up at me. I laughed to myself and reached out and pointed down over the ledge. He dove down, shortly he came back and dropped the penny on the ledge again. He seemed to glare at me a bit when we made eye contact again. I think still a bit confused about how it happened. How did I fool his sonar and how did he miss that? A few rounds later I tried this again. This time as soon as he scanned both hands and found no penny he dove down the wall and quickly came back up with the penny. He dropped it much further back on the ledge than he normally did which was normally just a few inches. We made eye contact and now it's like he knows what I did. Can't hide from the all seeing sonar.
We go through a few more rounds and I try it again. I don't know if he saw it or sonar gave it away but as soon as it cleared the ledge and started down he turned to follow it down without scanning my hands, almost as if to say, "Aha, I caught you". He didn't even drop out of sight before he stopped and came back up with the penny, having grabbed it before it hit bottom. I tried several more times and only managed to fool him once more. Sonar is hard to fool, nothing is hidden.
This game had been going on for a while now and I was getting a little concerned. While I knew this was a harmless game, staff would go ballistic about a coin in the tank. He wouldn't stop bringing the coin back now that he found someone who would play with him with it. There was no way I was going to take his coin away now. I needed a break so on the next round when I dropped the coin and he swam down to get it I just walked away. I hated to do that but it was the only think I could think of to satisfy all sides. Let someone else incur his wrath for taking the coin.
I wonder what he would have done if I had a second penny to put in the other hand.
Jealousy Averted
Trust, possibly unquantifiable, hard to earn, extremely easy to lose. This female White-Sided dolphin (the one in my pictures) had picked up the habit of nipping at the fingers of people who were trying to feed her. Perhaps she had a mean streak, not every dolphin is as friendly as portrayed, though it's mostly captive ones that get a “attitude". Perhaps she had been poorly treated in the past and she simply distrusted humans now. Maybe another game, scare the human. Whatever the reason, this caused people to drop the fish they were feeding her in the water. She would then quickly pick it up and swim off.
I never saw her actually bite anybody besides me.
I had intentionally not pulled back as she expected and she wound up getting two of my fingers. I could feel the points of her teeth but she did not break the skin. Not that hard, about what I would think it would take to hold a struggling fish. My hand twitched at the contact and I think this surprised her as she quickly let go and swam off as dead fish don't move on their own. I didn't pull back, I kept my hand where it was, the "bite" was accidental and unintentional. She swam by several times observing me. We had good eye contact. She tried couple more times to get a reaction out of me by acting like she was going to bite my fingers still failing to the reaction she expected out of me. She then started playing what I now call "The Keep Away Game”. That staying just exactly one inch from my fingertips no matter how much I stretched out or pulled back. I had played this game with many other dolphins by now and I had learned to hold my reach back just a bit and on the her next pass, I quickly closed the gap and touched her with one fingertip down her side as she swam by. Game won, first round. It apparently surprised her as she twitched slightly but didn't break stride swimming by. It's not easy to surprise a cetacean when they can see you coming with their sonar.
A couple of passes later with some good eye contact from them, she finally came closer and pressed against my hand as she swam by. A nice long rub from just above her pec down her side to her flukes and off. This continued for a couple of minutes
Everyone, no matter the species, has that "One Spot" that they just cannot scratch when it itches and the love it when someone they trust knows what to do. Cetaceans seem to have several, around the base of the dorsal fin, where the flukes join the tail, the corners of the mouth, the spot behind the pectoral flipper which also seems to be ticklish.
She began slowing down as she passed allowing more contact time. Trust was growing faster than usual it seemed this time. Perhaps she felt a bit guilty at having bit me and was trying to make up for it now that she realized I was one of the good guys.
On her next pass, she pressed her melon against my hand as she swam slowly by and stopped when my hand reached her flukes. There are several places in this area that are problematic for them to rub against to get rid of dead skin. The buildup even gives it a different feel than the rest of the body. I've learned the difference over time. I started rubbing one of the areas to get rid of the old skin, she went totally limp and just floated there. There is only a slight current in the tank but it is enough to cause her to drift away which she did. Even after I stopped because she was out of reach, it seemed to take her a few seconds to recover and be able to swim off for a moment and come back for more, like she was waking up from a trance or something. This went on for some time, I don't know how long, 10-15 mins maybe longer.
On her next pass she rolled over belly up and laid her flukes in my arms. A very vulnerable position for her. Trust was growing very rapidly. I must have made her feel real guilty about biting me with this quality of attention. This went on for several minutes. I stopped to give her a chance to roll over and breathe. She didn't move for about 10 seconds, then her pecs that were sticking up in the air began waving a bit but slowly as she tried to roll over. I applied a gentle twisting motion to her flukes to which she pushed back. I pushed a little harder to give her leverage and she slowly rolled over to take a breath and without stopping continued the roll right back over for me to continue, conservation of energy and momentum, nice.
This continued for several more minutes. I again stopped so she could breathe. This time, 10 seconds and no movement… 15 seconds… 20 seconds… Now I start to panic a bit. Cetaceans are conscious breathers. This means they have to think about taking a breath, like a Human would have to think to hold their breath. Unconsciousness means they don't breathe and die. Did it feel so good she passed out? I reached down and rolled her over right side up and held her at the surface waiting. After what seemed like an eternity, she shook a bit and finally took a breath. She was still shaking a bit and stayed in my arms. I was so relieved I pulled her closer to give her a hug and a kiss on the melon.
I just stayed there holding her letting her recover. It was at this point that the other White-Sided came over. He came up between us and pushed her out of my arms. My arms were still in the water somewhat around him and I knew enough at this point to not move. He did a couple of jaw snaps underwater and I could see the whites of his eyes as we made eye contact. He was clearly upset at me with all the attention I was giving to the female. They were the only two White-Sides in the tank at the time. Mates perhaps? Does he see me as a rival or possible challenge to his authority? Got to be careful here. The female was bobbing on the other side of him rubbing against him occasionally with eyes wide as well in apparent concern of what he was doing as well. Perhaps trying to tell him she's ok and I'm one of the good guys. This tableau continued for a few seconds as I decided what to do while we stared at each other. So I reached around him and gave him a hug to say thank you for allowing me the encounter and began rubbing him under the chin showing him I'd gladly share the attention she was getting with him. All the while keeping eye contact. He tensed for a moment as this apparently caught him by surprise. Then he closed his eyes and relaxed in my arms letting me continue rubbing him under the chin. After a bit he let me move onto his Dorsal Fin and then Flukes. Giving him some of the same attention I'd been giving the female. He reacted the same way, seemingly taking a moment to recover and swim off when I stopped then turn around and came back for more. The female seemed relieved by this turn of events and began rubbing against his side again. This went on for a minute or two and then I had to say my goodbyes to them and leave for the day.
They were always glad to see me after this.
Not a Killer but a Gentle Giant
How is it that without Sea World's special training for staff working with orcas, which I'm sure was different back then from what it is now, I was able to forge a relationship with four of their orcas without getting seriously hurt or killed if they are as dangerous as is being claimed by OSHA? There is a deeper story here that's not being told when a simple visitor to their park can develop a seemingly deeper relationship with four of their orcas in three months than their trainers can who spend more time with them than I have and have had Sea World's special training in order to work with the orcas. Sea World’s special training inherently has an agenda of coercing the orcas to be performers. Let the reader judge from my orca and dolphin encounters whether their special training is as safe and effective as simple trust and affection without agenda
It has been stated repeatedly by experts that orcas only attack humans in captivity. Is this the same for any other animal we keep zoos like this, Lions, Tigers, Elephants? Or are they just as dangerous in the wild? Treat an intelligent animal like a dumb animal long enough and it will start acting like a dumb animal. Maybe it is Sea World's conditioning that is the issue more than captivity. I knew these four orcas before they were subjected to the majority of this conditioning and had no problems with them. They were happy, joyful and playful and loved the interaction and sought it out. When one grabs an arm in their mouth up to the elbow to test your trust level, there are plenty of opportunities for problems to arise and none did. On the copy of their records I have seen are listed several times where Katina and Kasatka have mouthed a body part of a trainer for various reasons but did not seriously injure the trainer. Is it a result of my earlier teaching them about human frailty? Perhaps, I'd like to think so, or it at least shows considerable intelligent restraint on their part. Would they remember me after 33 years of this conditioning? I would hope they would, I still remember them.
What has changed since that time to the present? Was Sea World risking the public by putting orcas in such an open access display? Is it the decades living in a cement swimming pool compared to the open ocean that has made them aggressive? Is it the fact that the humans disappear at night and return in the morning which upsets the cetaceans cultural norms? Separation in the open ocean usually means death.
I've always been good with animals; dogs, cats, horses, reptiles, they all like me. However, I could see from my first encounter with a dolphin years ago that it was different with them. Eye contact got a seemingly deeper connection. Deeper than I get with other animals. I visited the local marine park as often as I could just to spend time at the petting pool, getting to know them individually and provided an interesting diversion for them for a while to alleviate some of what would be for me if I were in their situation, the boredom of captivity.
Then, while in college in San Diego, I was shocked to see when revisiting Sea World that there were also two young orcas in the public access petting pool. Of course this was in the fall of 1979, and things were different at the parks then. The public was allowed to be much closer to cetaceans than they are allowed now. I was told by the attendant that they were 4-6 years old. So this meant to me they were fairly new captures.
Years later when I met someone who could identify them from pictures I had of them. I learned their names and that they had been in captivity around two years at that time. The four orcas I got to know are:
- SWC-00-7801 - Kotar - male, deceased 1995
- SWC-00-7804 - Kasatka - female, Now POD leader at San Diego
- SWC-00-7806 - Katina - female, Now POD leader at Orlando
- SWC-00-7705 - Canuck 2 - male, deceased 1983
This was a dream come true for me because at that time I wanted to be a trainer, although not any longer. While I am against captivity, this provided me a unique opportunity to get to know dozens of cetaceans, and especially four young orcas. That would not have been possible otherwise, to do without having to be a trainer.
An Interaction Primer
I spent thousands of hours at the various park tanks getting to know them, despite the weather. Rain or shine, I was at the tank as often as I could be, all day, every weekend. I especially enjoyed time with the orcas, or for as long as I could stand the cold and wet, which was longer than most with my partial wetsuit under my clothes. I was there for the interaction, not to trick them over with fish. Earning their trust, friendship, and my place in their social structure. I showed them that I trusted them not to hurt me, and they tested me on this trust often and in many different ways. They reciprocated showing their trust of me in many ways as well. Over time, this grew so that we both trusted each other within the limits of the location. Up to allowing them to grab my arm in their mouth up to the elbow while they let me scratch their tongue. I became so well trusted by them that they would sometimes lay their flukes in my arms for a rub down. On several occasion they even tried to get me into the water by pulling firmly on my arm. An invitation that I had to reluctantly decline because of where we were, not that I was in any way afraid to get in the water with them.
I will mention at this point that I was under constant observation by the exhibit monitor and when the orcas were coming to me regularly, from across the tank by staff from the orca show. Had I been doing any thing improper or unsafe I would have been challenged by them and possibly ejected from the park or banned entirely. This never happened. I believe they were there trying to learn how I was so good with the orcas as I never used fish to coerce them to interact. Whenever I went over towards them in an attempt to talk to them, they quickly walked away.
I have always considered cetaceans of intelligence at least equal to that of Humans or even possibly superior. They've been around 25 Million Years in their present evolutionary state and Humans have been around a paltry 800 Thousand. We could learn something from this.
I never fed the dolphins I've gotten to know. I did not want to be associated with being a food source and the control issues that raises, I used tactile interaction only.
All these cetaceans were familiar with me before any these incidents, having spent so much time at the pool, I knew and trusted each of them very well. When you can't talk to each other, all that is left is eye contact, body language, and actual touch. Having a good "Poker Face" is also important. By that I mean the ability to stand your ground, be calm and in so doing show your trust. Not just look calm but be calm. Some of the tests of your trust can be nerve racking the first time they are encountered.
Always have your fingernails well manicured. A rough nail can cause problems and be misinterpreted by them. Never forget it's an entirely different culture.
- different rules
- different laws
- different taboos
- different beliefs
Somethings they do may be personally shocking at first. Don't forget you're dealing with a totally alien culture. They are more open about somethings than humans usually are. They are not doing it to insult or shock you. It is just how they do things.
My usual stance at the pool is with my arms in the water most of the time. Reaching out offering my hand underwater where they can see and sonar it. You have to get wet if you're gonna work with cetaceans. I do this to give them the choice of contact or not. It is also a show of my trust of them.
The development of mutual trust is a progression. One level of trust leading to a higher level of trust and so on. By letting them lead the way, I am letting them set the pace. It must progress equally on both sides or it will not progress at all. I just kept reaching out to show I was ready and they would swim by, maybe close enough to touch, maybe not. It was like a game. No matter how far out I reached, they could always stay just one inch further out whenever they wanted.
Unlimited Trust
Kotar seemed to revel in pushing the limits of those who interacted with him and trusted him. Playing his game of trying see how much people would put up with or maybe getting them to show fear.
During one visit he seemed to particularly enjoy me rubbing his tongue, though perhaps it was just a prelude to get me to drop my guard in preparation to what he did next. After several rounds of tongue rubbing and him swimming off to work the crowd for fish, the next time he came up, he gently closed his mouth on my arm while I was rubbing his tongue. Now this had happened many times in the past with the bottlenose dolphins so I was not overly concerned about my safety as I knew him well by this time and trusted him (as he trusted me by allowing me to rub his tongue) and he had done this so that my arm was in the gap at the tip of his mouth were there are no teeth but just the hard bone of the jaw. We were looking each other in the eye as I continued to rub his tongue.
Then he slowly began using his tongue to press my hand against the roof of his mouth. I stopped rubbing thinking that is what he wanted and waited to see what he was going to do. He slowly began to press harder and harder, eventually adding pressure with his jaw, never letting up. This was not a problem at first, but after a bit it began to be uncomfortable. Then it started to be painful. I held out as long as I could but when I thought my arm might break, I firmly pressed my fingertips into his tongue in an attempt to let him know it hurt. He immediately stopped squeezing but did not let me go so I stopped pressing into his tongue. All through this we had eye contact.
After a few seconds he began squeezing again. When it got to a firm but still comfortable level, but still much lower than the first time, I gently pressed my fingertip into his tongue and he stopped squeezing and I stopped pressing when he did. He seemed genuinely surprised at the difference between the two times. After a few seconds he opened his mouth releasing me. I did not immediately remove my hand but instead gave his tongue a good rub to let him know I was not hurt or upset by what he had done. Though it never bruised, the place on my arm where he had been pressing with his jaw was sore for days after this.
Most interesting about this is the fact that after this incident none of the other orcas ever grabbed me harder than the comfort level I had established with Kotar. It seems he was in some way able to pass this information onto the other orcas.
It is documented in the files on Kasatka and Katina that on several occasions they, as it is written in the files, “mouthed” a body part of a trainer but never actually injured them. I can only feel that this is result of their having learned from Kotar how grab a human without injuring them and is a result of what Kotar learned from me.
Getting The Point Across
Kotar seemed to always like pushing the envelope of trust. Seeing how far he could press someone in their trust of him. A couple weeks after the above incident, while rubbing his tongue with both hands, he turned his head to the side so my right hand slid across his teeth, each about the size of my thumb, and my fingers between them. He started closing his mouth trapping my fingers and I quickly made a fist and put at the tip of his jaw so he could not close all the way. He was still able to close enough so I could feel the points of the upper teeth pressing into the backs of my fingers, not a lot but enough to prevent me from pulling my fingers out without getting some severe cuts on the backs of them.
Even though my fist was preventing him from closing his mouth for the movement, had he wanted to, there would have been nothing I could have done to stop him from biting off my fingers. He had the strength advantage and there was nothing I could have done other than trust him as I have before to not hurt me. We stared each other in the eye for a few seconds and then he began squeezing as he had done before.
As young as they were at the time, they still had the needle-like sharp points on their teeth so this did hurt. He had both my hands immobilized and there was little I could do. I did the only thing I could do, with the thumb of my right hand I began pressing the nail into his gums to try and let him know it hurt so he would know to stop. He did stop but again did not immediately let me go. After a few seconds, which seemed a lot longer at the time, he opened his mouth. I rubbed his tongue to let him know I was ok and was not upset and stepped back to take a break. The impression on the backs of my fingers from the points of the teeth remained for some time before going away.
Reverse Training
One orca, possibly Kotar again I don’t know, demanded a blowhole massage once and this was one area I was always careful to avoid ever touching. This may have been Canuck II, I did not know their names at this point. He would swim slowly by and press against my hands and then stop whenever one of my hands passed over his blowhole area. I would then move my hand forwards or backwards off of it and continue rubbing his side. He'd stay a few moments then swim off and come around and do it again. After a few cycles of this he began to gently bump my hand whenever I slid it forward off his blowhole area. I recognized his hand bump (what Sea World refers to as a "pre-cursor") as a "you're not getting it" signal I had gotten from interactions I have had with other dolphins. On the next pass when he stopped under my hand, instead of moving off it, I gently went in circles around it still keeping clear of the actual opening. He began pressing a little harder against my hand indicating that is what he wanted.
I kept ready to jerk my hand back if he took a breath not wanting to interfere with his breathing in any way. My concern was unfounded as upon his next breath he simply rolled away so my hand was well clear and took a breath then rolled back for me to continue. I knew then to simply stop whenever he started to roll away. It was at this point that I notices his blowhole area formed a slight depression when closed. He had no way to rub against anything in the tank to slough of the dead skin from that area. This was the purpose of this whole chain of events. He wanted me to groom that area for him, so I did. I have no idea how long this continued, maybe 10-15 minutes, he did roll away twice to breathe. When he'd had enough, he rolled away and swam off.
Several conclusions come from this :
1. He trusted me enough to allow me to touch a very sensitive and personal area.
2. He used the approximation training method to get me to do a specific behavior he wanted. Groom his blowhole area.
3. He got me over my concern about touching that area of his body.
4. He demonstrated his trust of me by training me to touch his blowhole area.
5. This shows a level of higher thought equal to humans. He had to plan this out just as a human trainer would. He may have leaned this from him being trained to do specific behaviors.
6. Just who is training who.
On more than one occasion they even tried inviting me into the water. This invitation was accomplished by gently grabbing my arm in their mouth and gently pulling. On one occasion, two tried this at the same time and almost succeeded. It was very hard to say no to them but going in would have meant being permanently banned from the parks. At no time was I worried that they would intentionally harm me. I say intentionally as they are bigger and stronger than humans and could accidentally injure me as has happened in the past with other dolphins I've gotten to know over the years. I made mistakes along the way and have my own rake marks to show for it. It was a learning experience for both sides. They tested me often and I was able to teach them about how fragile humans are compared to them. When one grabbed an arm up to the elbow in his mouth testing my trust, I was able to teach him how much pressure I could stand and what level I was comfortable with. Afterwards I was never grabbed harder than the comfort level I had established, by any of them, so they obviously were able to exchange this information amount themselves.
A Pressing Issue
Touch is very important to cetaceans and is a big show of trust. They don't let just anyone rub their tongue or even just touch them without a great deal of trust in that person through that person having already shown them trust. Sometimes they may even press the issue for a person in whom they have extreme trust if for some reason they may feel the level of trust is not balanced on both sides. For it to work properly, an equal level trust must be shown from both individuals in the other.
I had this happen with Katina once myself. I was reaching out as she was swimming by close enough to touch. Suddenly she surged up and beached herself on the underwater ledge in front of me. It happened so fast I had no time to react. She landed on my forearm and pushed my upper arm back against the tank wall with the precision of a gymnast without hurting me. It felt like someone had laid a 100 pound bag of rice over my arm. I could feel the weight and was unable to move but it was not crushing my arm or painful.
Now, there are certain areas on their body you do not touch out of respect and with severe consequences if you do and I had always been very careful to avoid these areas despite the occasional offering such areas by an individual for touch as a show of trust, just not appropriate in that setting. I suddenly realized my arm was very close to one of these areas and I panicked. I vainly tried pulling out but there was no way and I fully expected to get hit by that tail up side my head that was just 5 feet (1.5 M) to my left. While struggling to get out, I suddenly realized about 10 seconds had passed and I hadn't been hit. I turned to look at her head and she was looking directly at me with sort of a 'gotcha' look in her eye.
Ultimately I think she felt the levels of trust were ‘out of balance’ and she did this to show me how much she trusted me since I had shown great trust in her and the others by allowing them to grab my arm in their mouth and from her point of view I had failed to acknowledge this level of trust so she forced it upon me.
A Mother’s Wrath
A bottlenose dolphin had given birth in the petting pool. The park, probably having realized too late she was pregnant, was probably afraid to move her out fearing a miscarriage. Eventually she began showing it off by swimming close by the edge of the tank with the calf riding along in mom's slipstream on the side towards the edge of the tank. Always just out of reach as usual, another game?
On one pass, the baby pooped as it was passing front of me. I thought to myself "why you little stinker, that's not polite". I reached down and gently caught its right fluke in the web of my right thumb for a split second and pulled away. This extra drag caused him to drop out of mom's slipstream and stop moving. This startled him as he froze for a moment and then with a couple quick tail pumps was gone. Mom immediately spun around and came up over by my left arm in the water. I could see she was a bit upset with me when I made eye contact and she proceeded to do a mock rake on my left arm to show her displeasure with me at what I had done.
I knew to keep completely still at this point. To try and move away while she was doing this meant risking turning my arm into hamburger. Remaining still showed her I trusted she would not actually hurt me. She stopped moving with her mouth open and my elbow halfway in staring at me. I put my elbow all the way in until it touched the teeth at the back of her mouth to show I understood and submitted myself to her reprimand. This surprised her as she quickly backed up (not something easy for a cetaceans to do) and got completely off my arm and just stayed there staring at me. I looked back to my right and the calf had returned was hovering out of reach nearby watching. Mom is still hovering off to my left watching us. I slowly reach my right hand out toward the calf. Then I felt something grab my left hand. I stopped and looked over and it is mom holding the palm of my left hand in the end of her mouth looking at me. I gently closed my hand around her lower jaw so there is no accidental slippage and scratch her under the chin with my right letting her know I understand. I reach back over towards the calf and waited. It (I never learned the sex of it) hovered about six inches away for a few seconds then slowly approached. I gave it a melon rub and a gentle scratch under the chin.
This went on for a minute or so and then the calf swam off. Mom opened her jaws to let me go. I pulled her a bit closer and gave her a few good rubs to show my appreciation at what she had done. I opened my hand and she swam off.
The Penny, Thoughts Optional
Dolphins do have the concept of possessions, just because they have something you might not think they should have, don't try and take it away. Margret Howe learned this with Peter when for a time he took possession of her diving mask.
A quiet day at the petting pool. Not too many people around. It was foggy and wet today. Good for me, few people around the tank.
One of the younger dolphins swims up and drops a penny on the underwater ledge in front of me. Where did he get a penny? Did some other visitor drop one in on purpose? Cetaceans are sometimes trained to bring any trash in the tank up to staff. They are given fish for bringing it in. Does he consider me staff because he knows me almost as well? Or is this another game? Some people might be worried he could swallow it. I know they're smarter than that. He's floating there in front of me about two feet (0.6 M) away looking at me, waiting for me to do something.
I had to be very discrete about this. If another visitor or staff saw the penny it could be a big problem. I could just remove it. No, it's his possession, can't do that, he brought it to me. Can't let staff walk by and see it there, then they'd think I put it in. I swish my hand in the water to wash it off the ledge and into deeper water. He gets excited and watches the penny float down a short way, then swims after it. He brings it back up and drops it on the ledge again. I swish my hand again and wash it off again. He goes to get it and brings it back again. Ok, could be a game, or he could still be trying for a fish. He's not opening his mouth like he's expecting a fish, so it must be a game. I pick it up and hold it in my hand out of the water. He continues to watch me, so I try to make up a new game. I put my hands together out of the water so he can't scan them and switch the coin to my other hand. I make two fists and put them back in the water. He moves a little closer and I can see his head moving left and right as he looks at each hand and presumably scans them with sonar. He moves in to touch his beak to one hand, the hand with the penny. I open my hand to show it to him and drop it in the water off the ledge. He seems happy with this.
He swims down to get it and brings it back again. I randomly choose a hand and put two fists in the water. Again he picks the correct hand. Time after time he picks the hand with the penny. Simple to do with sonar. Maybe not the best game but we were having fun.
One time instead of picking it up I washed it off the ledge while acting like I was picking it up out of the water as usual. I made my two fists and put them back in the water. He scanned my left, then scanned my right. He seemed confused as he couldn't find the penny and repeatedly scanned both hands. I opened my hands and he turned so he could see my empty hands with his eye. He looked from one to the other, then turned a bit more to survey the ledge around us, then back up at me. I laughed to myself and reached out and pointed down over the ledge. He dove down, shortly he came back and dropped the penny on the ledge again. He seemed to glare at me a bit when we made eye contact again. I think still a bit confused about how it happened. How did I fool his sonar and how did he miss that? A few rounds later I tried this again. This time as soon as he scanned both hands and found no penny he dove down the wall and quickly came back up with the penny. He dropped it much further back on the ledge than he normally did which was normally just a few inches. We made eye contact and now it's like he knows what I did. Can't hide from the all seeing sonar.
We go through a few more rounds and I try it again. I don't know if he saw it or sonar gave it away but as soon as it cleared the ledge and started down he turned to follow it down without scanning my hands, almost as if to say, "Aha, I caught you". He didn't even drop out of sight before he stopped and came back up with the penny, having grabbed it before it hit bottom. I tried several more times and only managed to fool him once more. Sonar is hard to fool, nothing is hidden.
This game had been going on for a while now and I was getting a little concerned. While I knew this was a harmless game, staff would go ballistic about a coin in the tank. He wouldn't stop bringing the coin back now that he found someone who would play with him with it. There was no way I was going to take his coin away now. I needed a break so on the next round when I dropped the coin and he swam down to get it I just walked away. I hated to do that but it was the only think I could think of to satisfy all sides. Let someone else incur his wrath for taking the coin.
I wonder what he would have done if I had a second penny to put in the other hand.
Jealousy Averted
Trust, possibly unquantifiable, hard to earn, extremely easy to lose. This female White-Sided dolphin (the one in my pictures) had picked up the habit of nipping at the fingers of people who were trying to feed her. Perhaps she had a mean streak, not every dolphin is as friendly as portrayed, though it's mostly captive ones that get a “attitude". Perhaps she had been poorly treated in the past and she simply distrusted humans now. Maybe another game, scare the human. Whatever the reason, this caused people to drop the fish they were feeding her in the water. She would then quickly pick it up and swim off.
I never saw her actually bite anybody besides me.
I had intentionally not pulled back as she expected and she wound up getting two of my fingers. I could feel the points of her teeth but she did not break the skin. Not that hard, about what I would think it would take to hold a struggling fish. My hand twitched at the contact and I think this surprised her as she quickly let go and swam off as dead fish don't move on their own. I didn't pull back, I kept my hand where it was, the "bite" was accidental and unintentional. She swam by several times observing me. We had good eye contact. She tried couple more times to get a reaction out of me by acting like she was going to bite my fingers still failing to the reaction she expected out of me. She then started playing what I now call "The Keep Away Game”. That staying just exactly one inch from my fingertips no matter how much I stretched out or pulled back. I had played this game with many other dolphins by now and I had learned to hold my reach back just a bit and on the her next pass, I quickly closed the gap and touched her with one fingertip down her side as she swam by. Game won, first round. It apparently surprised her as she twitched slightly but didn't break stride swimming by. It's not easy to surprise a cetacean when they can see you coming with their sonar.
A couple of passes later with some good eye contact from them, she finally came closer and pressed against my hand as she swam by. A nice long rub from just above her pec down her side to her flukes and off. This continued for a couple of minutes
Everyone, no matter the species, has that "One Spot" that they just cannot scratch when it itches and the love it when someone they trust knows what to do. Cetaceans seem to have several, around the base of the dorsal fin, where the flukes join the tail, the corners of the mouth, the spot behind the pectoral flipper which also seems to be ticklish.
She began slowing down as she passed allowing more contact time. Trust was growing faster than usual it seemed this time. Perhaps she felt a bit guilty at having bit me and was trying to make up for it now that she realized I was one of the good guys.
On her next pass, she pressed her melon against my hand as she swam slowly by and stopped when my hand reached her flukes. There are several places in this area that are problematic for them to rub against to get rid of dead skin. The buildup even gives it a different feel than the rest of the body. I've learned the difference over time. I started rubbing one of the areas to get rid of the old skin, she went totally limp and just floated there. There is only a slight current in the tank but it is enough to cause her to drift away which she did. Even after I stopped because she was out of reach, it seemed to take her a few seconds to recover and be able to swim off for a moment and come back for more, like she was waking up from a trance or something. This went on for some time, I don't know how long, 10-15 mins maybe longer.
On her next pass she rolled over belly up and laid her flukes in my arms. A very vulnerable position for her. Trust was growing very rapidly. I must have made her feel real guilty about biting me with this quality of attention. This went on for several minutes. I stopped to give her a chance to roll over and breathe. She didn't move for about 10 seconds, then her pecs that were sticking up in the air began waving a bit but slowly as she tried to roll over. I applied a gentle twisting motion to her flukes to which she pushed back. I pushed a little harder to give her leverage and she slowly rolled over to take a breath and without stopping continued the roll right back over for me to continue, conservation of energy and momentum, nice.
This continued for several more minutes. I again stopped so she could breathe. This time, 10 seconds and no movement… 15 seconds… 20 seconds… Now I start to panic a bit. Cetaceans are conscious breathers. This means they have to think about taking a breath, like a Human would have to think to hold their breath. Unconsciousness means they don't breathe and die. Did it feel so good she passed out? I reached down and rolled her over right side up and held her at the surface waiting. After what seemed like an eternity, she shook a bit and finally took a breath. She was still shaking a bit and stayed in my arms. I was so relieved I pulled her closer to give her a hug and a kiss on the melon.
I just stayed there holding her letting her recover. It was at this point that the other White-Sided came over. He came up between us and pushed her out of my arms. My arms were still in the water somewhat around him and I knew enough at this point to not move. He did a couple of jaw snaps underwater and I could see the whites of his eyes as we made eye contact. He was clearly upset at me with all the attention I was giving to the female. They were the only two White-Sides in the tank at the time. Mates perhaps? Does he see me as a rival or possible challenge to his authority? Got to be careful here. The female was bobbing on the other side of him rubbing against him occasionally with eyes wide as well in apparent concern of what he was doing as well. Perhaps trying to tell him she's ok and I'm one of the good guys. This tableau continued for a few seconds as I decided what to do while we stared at each other. So I reached around him and gave him a hug to say thank you for allowing me the encounter and began rubbing him under the chin showing him I'd gladly share the attention she was getting with him. All the while keeping eye contact. He tensed for a moment as this apparently caught him by surprise. Then he closed his eyes and relaxed in my arms letting me continue rubbing him under the chin. After a bit he let me move onto his Dorsal Fin and then Flukes. Giving him some of the same attention I'd been giving the female. He reacted the same way, seemingly taking a moment to recover and swim off when I stopped then turn around and came back for more. The female seemed relieved by this turn of events and began rubbing against his side again. This went on for a minute or two and then I had to say my goodbyes to them and leave for the day.
They were always glad to see me after this.
Not a Killer but a Gentle Giant
How is it that without Sea World's special training for staff working with orcas, which I'm sure was different back then from what it is now, I was able to forge a relationship with four of their orcas without getting seriously hurt or killed if they are as dangerous as is being claimed by OSHA? There is a deeper story here that's not being told when a simple visitor to their park can develop a seemingly deeper relationship with four of their orcas in three months than their trainers can who spend more time with them than I have and have had Sea World's special training in order to work with the orcas. Sea World’s special training inherently has an agenda of coercing the orcas to be performers. Let the reader judge from my orca and dolphin encounters whether their special training is as safe and effective as simple trust and affection without agenda
It has been stated repeatedly by experts that orcas only attack humans in captivity. Is this the same for any other animal we keep zoos like this, Lions, Tigers, Elephants? Or are they just as dangerous in the wild? Treat an intelligent animal like a dumb animal long enough and it will start acting like a dumb animal. Maybe it is Sea World's conditioning that is the issue more than captivity. I knew these four orcas before they were subjected to the majority of this conditioning and had no problems with them. They were happy, joyful and playful and loved the interaction and sought it out. When one grabs an arm in their mouth up to the elbow to test your trust level, there are plenty of opportunities for problems to arise and none did. On the copy of their records I have seen are listed several times where Katina and Kasatka have mouthed a body part of a trainer for various reasons but did not seriously injure the trainer. Is it a result of my earlier teaching them about human frailty? Perhaps, I'd like to think so, or it at least shows considerable intelligent restraint on their part. Would they remember me after 33 years of this conditioning? I would hope they would, I still remember them.
What has changed since that time to the present? Was Sea World risking the public by putting orcas in such an open access display? Is it the decades living in a cement swimming pool compared to the open ocean that has made them aggressive? Is it the fact that the humans disappear at night and return in the morning which upsets the cetaceans cultural norms? Separation in the open ocean usually means death.