Friday, October 21, 2011

F.A.S.T.ing


My absence here at PF has been due to my presence here in Orlando. I am attending the Florida Association of Science Teachers convention. The first day was full of field trip offerings, I chose a behind the scenes tour of SeaWorld.
We got up close and personal with a polar bear who ignored us as she dug for a treat buried in the snow.
After the polar bears, belugas, and walruses, we toured the wildlife rescue/rehab area. The picture above shows a sea turtle rehab center at Sea World.
The manatee rehab pools held three manatees. This one had apparently swam through some industrial banding at some point and it became embedded in his skin. The SeaWorld vets removed it and the wound, even though it still looks terrible, is actually healing.
Emma and the dolphins.
We both went to the FAST convention, she from her school, and me from mine. Her mentor teacher, Stacy, went too and we had a great time seeing the science behind Sea World.
After all, any day that starts with a chance to pet a baby shark pup has got to be a good day.

5 comments:

Pablo said...

A polar bear at SeaWorld? Does that make sense?

cinbad122 said...

Was that bear Klondike or Snow?

R.Powers said...

Pablo,
Well, more sense outside of Florida I suppose.


Cindy,
Snow. Her brother was sleeping.

Lynn said...

Hope you enjoyed yourself with the backstage tours. The local students here get to do that if they are lucky enough to be on the Honor Roll. We will be sleeping with Snow come May. CANNOT wait!

Octohawk said...

That's so funny, I was at SeaWorld on Wednesday! Got free tickets for adopting a kitten from Orange County Animal Services.

I have pretty mixed feelings on SeaWorld, but do respect some of the rehabilitation work they do. My dad's company built the manatee habitat, Key West, Kraken, etc. and I remember sitting next to the manatee pool for hours staring at them before the exhibit was open to the public. I like that they tried to make it look like Blue Spring.