Day of dolphins

July 25, 2013

Everyone drags their feet along down the hallway of the RSMAS campus. No one is ever excited for lecture day. Ever. The day started out with the usual craziness around the museum. A big blur of energy coming from kids 9^th through 12^th grade.  Felix was rocking Amanda’s spunky purple wig, which really didn’t look too bad on him.  We all hopped on the crispy, sizzling cheese bus. Our lecture consisted of the world’s favorite, adorable aquatic mammals, dolphins and whales. Though the presentation didn’t really have the typical pictures of trained, happy dolphins, jumping out of the water.  No, it was much, much more heart breaking. So much that one of the Junior females almost busted out in tears about 5 times in a row. Gladly, she pulled herself together.  We discussed the rehabilitation process of beached whales and dolphins. But our hearts just kept getting crushed when we found out that only 10% of the animals that are “rescued” make it out to sea once again. Then we experienced what the cadaver looks like for these animals. Then came 10 brutal minutes of blood, guts, tissue, scars, gashes, and dead animals, which was a little too graphic for some of our younger juniors. However, we didn’t end on a note that was too gruesome, after words the presenter gave us tips on how we could reduce beaching’s of these animals that we claim to love ever so much. All in all, the day was very informative, even though the presentation messed with all of our emotions at some point, it was still very enjoyable.

-Leandra J