Name: Captain
Species: Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin
Gender: Female
Birth date: 11/17/05
Birth place: SWC
Mother: Beaker
Father: Crunch
Grandmother: Gracie
Grandfather: Stein
It was originally thought that Captain was a male, but it has now been proven that she is in fact a female. Her name will remain Captain.
She and her mother Beaker came out to RPP the first week in September (2006). This little girl was 11 months old when she came out to RPP.
My report from her first week out at RPP: 9/15/06
Captain is incredibly interactive. She likes her whole body rubbed which is so unlike any calf before her. She is 2 months older (she is 11 months old) than the other calves were when they were introduced out at RPP in the last 3 years. This may have something to do with it. But it is probably her personality. At 4 months old she was already eating fish and staying with a trainer for a typical training session. I don't know the average age a dolphin will do this normally but I think 4 months old is quite young to be that interactive with people. But I am comparing it to the navy dolphins, SW is probably a lot more eager to get the calves socialized.
She is a gorgeous little dolphin. She looks just like mom. She has her mother's melon markings. I don't see much of Crunch in her, but maybe as she gets older it will be more noticeable. Right now both Beaker and Captain are very dark, but that is because living in AC always give the dolphins a "tan." So Captain is very dark right now, but her color will probably get lighter. I'm interested to see how much lighter she will actually be.
She will probably get few rake marks until she is weaned. Beaker is dominant and very protective. She herself is clean of rake marks. She was very protective of Captain the time I was there. She would let Captain come over to me but she would stay quite close. The trainers were feeding with people doing the "up close interaction" and Captain was over with me. Beaker wouldn't let her stay very long while she was not present.
She swam with no one else except Beaker. Beaker also swam alone. The only time I saw her with another dolphin was when she was up. She would interact along with the other dolphins.
My report from my second time seeing her at RPP: 9/23/06
Beaker is not as protective of Captain this week. She still keeps an eye on her, but she will allow Captain to be away from her for more than a minute at a time. For example: Beaker will allow herself to eat during feeding time while Captain is not right next to her. She would never take her away from me with force like the previous time. If she wanted Captain she would come over and sort of nudge her gently. I was very happy to see that. She still is very protective if Captain is with strangers. There was this group of people about 3 people away from me that kept getting Captain's attention. I was paying to much attention to Venus and Zana I guess. But Beaker would swim right into Captain and push her away if she was playing to long with the people. Beaker herself interacted with me like old times, rubs and squirts. The previous week she had not done this, and only came up for one rub.
Beaker allowed Captain to interact with some of the other dolphins. I saw Captain swimming a little with Venus. Captain would again interact alongside the other dolphins. Everyone except Charlie seems to not mind Captain being beside them. Charlie actually tried to rake Captain several times, but he seems to do this with everyone. I guess Captain won't be clean of rakes for as long as I thought.
I am excited to see this little girl grow up.
Her first year: Beaker is being less and less protective. She still doesn't like random people playing with her baby when it is not feeding time. During feeding time she allows Captain to be apart from her and she will usually not check up on her more than a few times. Captain interacts a lot more with the juvenile dolphins. She is no longer free of rake marks. She now has new ones on her eyes and blow hole. The eyes seem to be a favorite place for calves to be raked. All of the calves go through a stage where their eyes are all raked up. She is getting really fun to interact with. She loves having water poured into her mouth, and she loves to be pet. She is adapting well to RPP and she soon will be acting just like the rest of them.
Now Captain has been weaned from Beaker for a few months now. She is extremely independent but took to Sadie for comfort. She can be seen swimming under Sadie most of the time. She is very people oriented and continues to be extremely interactive.
Captain photos
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