A Day in the Life of a Dolphin Trainer

A career as a dolphin trainer has a lot of perks, but our trainers also work really hard.

» See more behind-the-scenes photos of a trainer's day here.

Our trainers work on a staggered schedule with our dolphins. The Aquarium has 13 trainers who team up with groups of dolphins for different daily activities.

The early shift of trainers begins the day at 6:30 a.m., bucketing out the dolphins' food for the day. Before they're finished, the second shift will be busy working with the dolphins.

And because dolphins can eat 20 pounds of fish per day, much of our trainers' days is spent on food preparation and cleaning!

In addition to their already-packed daily schedule, trainers also each have a project they are in charge of, such as: repairing wet suits, ordering fish and supplies, diving to clean pools, running the internship and volunteer programs, safety, filing, and entering records into the computers.

6:00 - Food prep (rinse and bucket out fish for the entire day; weigh and color-code buckets by dolphin; arrange in rows according to each scheduled feeding in fridge; dispose of broken fish in grinder)

6:45 - Check on and feed dolphins; administer vitamins (pills are placed in gills of fish); return to food prep

8:30 - Feeding and training session (usually visual inspection using medical behaviors)

9:00 - Clean around pools; scrub inside of pools; clean and sanitize used buckets and food prep room; take boxes of fish out of freezer to thaw in the fridge for the next day; enter records