Roonie has nailed the shame behaviour (tucking her head under her flipper) and does this with the other girls, so another behaviour ticked off the list!
Phoebe and Maria have been working hard on balancing a ball on their nose. I got them a bright yellow SpongeBob Square Pants ball and it was excellent as it's big and light so easier for the sea-lions to learn with. Except Phoebe bit it!
And what's worse I can't get a replacement so I have a Spiderman Ball instead.
Maria has now learnt to do a back-flip - a real crowd pleaser - but I am struggling to put it to a far away signal. So at the moment I can only do that behaviour in a show with Maria on her own.
Maria, Spray and Roonie are also learning to jump through hoops, so far all of them go through the hoop on land when the hoop is presented to them with very little help from me. Next step is getting them to swim through the hoop with little help, then raise the hoop higher and higher until they are jumping through it - exciting stuff.
There is also a lot of work going on to connect a bore hole to the sea-lion pool to allow water changes and a regular influx of fresh water to further improve the quality and clarity of the pool water. I can't wait for this, crazy how excited I am over water!
Phoebe has started spending a lot of time indoors away from the other sea-lions and is fairly irritable all good signs of pregnancy. But a huge Cousteau has not got a sea-lion pregnant for five years so it is extremely unlikely she is pregnant. It's more likely just hot. Would be a nice and welcomed surprise, though.
By Vicky Venton
Vicki Small
Sea-lion introduction and photos.
Sea-lion school!
