Become a professional dolphin trainer at specialized dolphin training facilities.
Several institutions in the United States as well as other parts of the globe specialize in dolphin training. These include Dolphin Research Center, The Dolphin Institute, ABC Animal Training and Dolphin Connections. The nature and duration of training varies from program to program. Some programs are purely research-based whereas others provide practical dolphin training sessions.
ABC Animal Training
Mexico-based ABC Animal Training offers basic and advanced dolphin training courses supervised by professional dolphin trainers. To sign up for the advanced course, you must have completed the basic dolphin-training course. Students also get to interact and swim with the dolphins during the training. As of February 2011, the basic course costs $1,000, while the advanced course runs $1,100.
The Dolphin Connection
The Dolphin Connection offers one-day training programs for $315, as of February 2011. Children below 10 years of age cannot sign up for this program. The three-hour program consists of lectures on dolphin training and care as well as physical underwater interaction with the dolphins. Additionally, the professional training team at The Dolphin Connection will demonstrate the everyday activities necessary for training dolphins. Since the program accommodates only two persons, the organization recommends timely bookings. When you complete the training, a certificate will be awarded along with a T-shirt and a snapshot with a dolphin. Besides the one-day training program, The Dolphin Connection also offers minor courses of 30 minutes to 1 hour that constitute fun interactions and swim sessions with the dolphins.
Dolphin Research Center
Dolphin Research Center offers fun as well as research-oriented training programs. These include Trainer for a Day, Researcher for a Day, Dolphin Encounter, Dolphin Dip, Play with the Dolphins and Paint with a Dolphin programs. It also offers a college-accredited program called "Dolphin Lab" which lasts one week. In Dolphin Lab program, students learn to communicate with dolphins through signals, attend seminars that reveal interesting facts about dolphins, and indulge in many underwater activities with the dolphins.
Dolphin Quest
Dolphin Quest offers different educational programs involving dolphins in its Hawaii and Bermuda facilities. Major Dolphin Quest Hawaii school programs include a one-hour Discover Dolphins program meant for school children to learn facts about dolphins and whales; Whale Wonders, a 90-minute interaction program with whales and dolphins in which students get to communicate with these mammals through hand signals; and a two-hour Cetacean Exploration program that constitutes an in-depth understanding of the anatomy and behavior of dolphins as well as an opportunity to interact with the mammals through specific hand signals. The Bermuda school offers a 45-minute Dolphin Tots program in which students learn about anatomy, behavior and the ocean life of the dolphin species. A professional trainer will also narrate educational stories relating to dolphins.
Underwater Explorers Society, Bahamas
Underwater Explorers Society, Bahamas, offers a five-hour Assistant Trainer program for $359, as of February 2011. In this program, students ride on a boat and observe dolphins in action in the oceanic waters, swim with two dolphins above surface, attend a short lecture delivered by a member of the school's training team, learn the messages and signals to which dolphins respond, and physically try these cues to interact with the school's trained dolphins. Other courses offered by the school are shorter in duration (20 to 25 minutes on average) and consist of limited interaction sessions with the dolphins.
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