Who's Who in Dolphin Discovery

Which dolphin at the National Aquarium has a lightning bolt-shaped marking on her head? Which one has a dorsal fin that looks like the edge of a lasagna noodle? Who's the biggest, brawniest dolphin in the pod? Who's the most petite?

The Aquarium's colony of six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins is made up of four females—Bayley, Chesapeake, Jade and Spirit—and two males, Beau and Foster. All six are smart, social, and somewhat similar in appearance, but they each have distinct personality traits and physical characteristics that set them apart from their pod-mates.

To find out what makes each one unique, we spoke with the Aquarium's 13-person Marine Mammal team: Dolphin Discovery Curator Sylvia Rickett; Assistant Curator Ivan Perez; Senior Marine Mammal Trainers Kimmy Barron, Gretchen Geiger, Keri Lauermann and April Martin; Marine Mammal Trainers Callie Cole, Chris Erdman, Sarah Kinsey, Dana Rogers and Tessa Vigilante; and Assistant Marine Mammal Trainers Lauren Michel and Kathleen Somers.

Each dolphin has a dedicated four- to five-person husbandry team led by one primary trainer, but every Marine Mammal team member works with every dolphin. The care and love the entire team feels for Bayley, Beau, Chesapeake, Foster, Jade and Spirit shines through when they talk about them.

Bayley

Bayley, the daughter of Chesapeake, was born in 2008. In addition to being the youngest dolphin in the pod, she is the smallest, weighing just under 300 pounds. Her dorsal fin is tiny and triangular. Her color is a paler grey than any of the other dolphins; she also has the pinkest belly and a pink marking inside her mouth that looks like a tiny heart. The tips of her tail fluke are pink, too, which trainers can see when she swims away.

Bayley is athletic, and the team calls her the highflier. She's also the most vocal dolphin in the pod and is a brave, curious, quick learner who shows excitement when she's right. Bayley is also a social butterfly who bounces between groupings more than any other dolphin in the pod. She will mimic other dolphins, watching them carefully when they're working with trainers and attempting to do what they're doing on her own. She likes to solicit attention from her trainers and is often the first dolphin new staff members work with because she's so adaptable, eager to please, and able to match her trainer's energy.

Beau

Born in 2005, Beau is the largest dolphin in the Aquarium pod and the only one who weighs more than 500 pounds. He is Spirit's half-brother and, for a large male, is incredibly good-natured and sweet. The team calls him a "textbook beauty," long and lean with a perfectly triangular dorsal fin and pretty teeth. They also characterize him as a complex dolphin who's rewarding to work with.

He's mellow and is the quietest of all the dolphins; he's also the most attuned to subtle changes in his environment. He won't commit to anything immediately and will wait for his pod mates to interact with new enrichment items before he's willing to try them. He moves slowly except when he does a vertical spin, which he does with speed, energy and precision. He likes tactile enrichment like kelp mats and brush gates; he also enjoys bubbles and looking at himself in a mirror. The team says he is incredibly smart and seems to know what his trainers are willing to accept from him.

Chesapeake

Chesapeake is the dominant female in the Aquarium colony. She was born in 1992, the first dolphin to be born at the National Aquarium. She always monitors the other dolphins in the pod and frequently swims closely with Bayley (her daughter) and Spirit. Foster is Chesapeake's number one fan; the team says he usually tries to stay near her, whether she's receptive to his company or not.

She's an intelligent, athletic dolphin who's energized by learning new behaviors and reinforced by being right. Whenever the team offers enrichment, Chesapeake is on it, either by herself or with others. She particularly likes balls and foraging devices. In her role as the colony's matriarch, she watches everything going on in the habitat. If the team can tell she's distracted during a training session because she's trying to keep an eye on the pod, they work with her on that. Chespeake's unique physical markings include freckling and marbling on her belly, a marking that looks like a lightning bolt on her forehead, and a tall, straight dorsal fin. Her dorsal fin also has an easily visible notch that looks like a C—appropriate given her name!

Foster

Foster was born in September 2007 and is Jade's son. Like his mother, Foster has dark eyes and an underbite, and everything about his body is oversized—from his big round melon (the area on a dolphin's head between their rostrum and blowhole) to his pectoral fins, and especially his flukes. He's also the dominant male of the colony, even though Foster is smaller than Beau.

The team describes Foster's personality as good-natured and trusting, but also silly and goofy. He's creative and likes enrichment items that are "unexpected and weird." He's particularly fond of ring toys and rubdowns. The team describes Foster as a tactile dolphin who lacks a sense of personal space, seeking out touch from his trainers by cuddling up and getting as close as he can. As much as Foster likes being close to his trainers, he likes being close to the colony's matriarch, Chesapeake, even more. He tends to hover around her and will offer up his enrichment items to her. Even when he's distracted by Chesapeake's presence, Foster does his best to do what his trainers ask of him.

Jade

Born in 1999, Jade is Foster's mother. She has dark eyes, an underbite, barrel chest, extra-large dorsal fin, and a semi-circle notch on her fluke. The team calls her "the sweetest pie" and says she is the least dominant dolphin in the pod. She's always aware of everything going on socially in the pool and mostly hangs out with Bayley.

During training sessions, Jade responds particularly well to training in an open space with ample room to work. She focuses intently on what her trainers are communicating and will pick up small cues, so trainers must be extra clear when working with her. Of all the dolphins, she's the one who seeks out the approval of her trainers the most. When she knows she's done something correctly, she'll squeal in excitement. She's also known to spin and spiral-swim back to her trainer when she's having a successful training session. Food is her primary reinforcement, but she also likes being bobbed up and down by her tail and having her fluke rubbed. She often tries to "hug" her trainers and gives them a good splash with her front fins in the process.

Spirit

Spirit was born in 2001 and is Beau's older half-sister. She is the largest female in the colony and can be identified by her petite dorsal fin with evenly spaced notches that give it a ruffled look, like the edge of a lasagna noodle. Spirit also has four parallel markings that run down her melon, like she was scratched by a (very large!) cat, and a beauty mark on her left side that's notably darker than the rest of her body.

Spirit is a problem-solving whiz who excels at juggling and figuring out puzzles. The team says she can also be a bit mischievous. When she wants something, she is determined to get it. She's a reliable dolphin for new trainers to work with since she is tolerant of mistakes and particularly communicative, both through her body language and vocalizations. When she's done something well, she celebrates loudly for herself. She also vocalizes when she has not done something successfully but is trying to convince her trainers that she did. The team says those vocalizations sound noticeably different than her true celebrations. In her free time, Spirit frequently swims and plays with Chesapeake.

Building Relationships, Building Trust

"As much as we know about these six dolphins as individuals and about Atlantic bottlenose dolphins as a species, there's always more to discover and learn," Sylvia says. "That's part of what makes this work so interesting and fulfilling."

The team's deep familiarity with each dolphin, and vice versa, is built every day through daily care like feedings, informal interactions, and formal training sessions. These daily training sessions keep the dolphins physically fit and mentally stimulated.

"Getting the dolphins to try different movements works their minds and muscles," Sylvia explains. These sessions also help build the relationships between each dolphin and the humans who care for them.

See for Yourself!

Ready to test your knowledge and see if you can spot Chesapeake's lightning bolt marking or Spirit's ruffled dorsal fin?

There are plenty of opportunities for National Aquarium guests to watch the Marine Mammal team work with the colony. When the Aquarium is open, guests can spend as much time in Dolphin Discovery as they'd like. The exhibit has an amphitheater with seating as well as an underwater viewing area, and the team leads multiple training sessions each day that guests are free to watch. To get closer to the action, paid Dolphin Tours and Dolphin Training Sessions are available as admission add-ons. You can also learn about and support the National Aquarium's efforts to create an oceanside habitat for our colony.