Sakari, the newest member of our Shamu family in San Antonio, turned one year old today, January 7, 2011. Guests joined us for her celebration as Sakari, her mother Takara, and another female named Unna received birthday cakes made of frozen jello and whipped cream after shows this past weekend.
Each day brings new discoveries, new behaviors, and new excitement as we watch Sakari learn. She has developed quite the behavioral repertoire by simply mimicking Takara and the other grown whales. Sakari learned first to wave her tail, shake her head, and jump by following her mother on such behaviors. Now, she will very consistently wave her tail (as pictured below between Takara and Unna), pose on her flippers, wave her flippers, and shake without any help from Mom at all. As a matter of fact, just yesterday Sakari responded by herself to a trainer’s hand signal asking her jump. She has also learned to present us with her tail flukes and allow our veterinarians to collect blood samples. This particular behavior aids us tremendously in being able to monitor her health and give her the best possible care. By the way, she is fit as a fiddle!
As the days go by, I still never tire of watching her play. Though Sakari follows her mother for many behaviors, she will often choose to stay and play with her own trainer. She really seems to enjoy playing in the water hose, being splashed with water, and just watching trainers do silly things. I have also chuckled on more than one occasion when Sakari has left both her trainer and her mother to go and play in a hose or watch something happening outside the pools. She grows more independent day by day. Our little one has grown so quickly!
