A Day in the Life: Ambassador Animals

Visitors form connections with nature every day at the National Aquarium. They come eye-to-eye with animals in exhibits, speak with educators, maybe watch a feeding or two. One group of animals, though, helps guests engage with species in a very particular way.

Ambassador animals are the stars of the Aquarium's Animal Encounter programs, led by staff from two teams—Guest Engagement along with Behavioral Husbandry and Animal Programs. Historically, encounters at zoos and aquariums involved staff or keepers simply holding animals while speaking about them. While some Aquarium encounters still play out this way, best practices are changing. These days, our staff work hard to hand the reins to the ambassadors themselves. But how exactly does that work? It all goes back to connection.

A Morning Behind the Scenes

Behavioral Husbandry's rooms are bustling. Staff prepare and set out food, clean enclosures, craft animal enrichment items and more. Most days, staff bring animals out for handling, training, or exploration time on enrichment structures placed throughout the space.

In addition to the four-person Behavioral Husbandry and Animal Programs team, a steady rotation of Guest Engagement staff drop by. Some come to retrieve an ambassador for a morning encounter while others come to learn or practice. Before leading an encounter with any ambassador, staff members first study the life history and biology of the ambassador's species. They then must get to know each animal as an individual.

"Observing and working with ambassadors, you pick up on their temperaments. We have a great level of trust with them and vice versa." – Paul Deis, Guest Engagement manager

It can take weeks to months to build relationships with the ambassadors. Some are naturally inquisitive, some more reserved. Some cannot always be handled, like the snakes when they shed their skin or after they eat.

Brutus, a boa constrictor, is a good example. His encounter schedule is lighter, partly because he sheds every few months, partly because it usually takes more than one set of hands to start an encounter with a constrictor that's well over 6 feet long. On this particular day, Senior Interpreters Hannah Jeffrey and Kirk Smith and Assistant Animal Trainer Nora Salzberg spend an hour working with Brutus and observing his behaviors as he exercises.

They carefully place him on the same artificial tree he'd climb during an encounter. On it, he has his choice of heights to explore, textures to feel and scents to smell. He's getting a mental and physical workout as he coils around the branches. During an encounter, it's also more engaging for him and his onlookers. The same way he controls the end of his encounters, he signals he's finished exercising and exploring by vacating the tree and sliding into his nearby transport container.

An Afternoon Encounter

While Brutus spent his morning exercising, another reptile is about to be given the choice of participating in an afternoon encounter. Developed through years of training and trust-building, Joey, a yellow-footed tortoise, is one of the Aquarium's ambassadors with the most agency.

Kristen Newton, a Guest Engagement manager, sets a carrier box at the door of Joey's enclosure and opens it, thereby signaling that he could go somewhere. Now it's up to him. "Watching him head into his carrier without prompting or being offered a reward ... it's a great feeling when these animals show they want to go on encounters," Kristen says.

Encounters featuring Joey range from simpler ones where he dines on lettuce to more complex training sessions, where he shows his skills at following his red target. Luckily, no one in the audience is sporting red sneakers that distract Joey on this day, making it easier for Kristen to keep him focused and snacking on his vegetable rewards.

"Learning how to clicker train Joey was hard," Kristen recalls. "There's so much involved, from how to angle the tongs and present him food to timing the clicker to tell him he's touched his target correctly. But it's worth it for the 'light bulb' moment when guests realize training and enrichment isn't just for dogs or cats."

A Deeper Connection

Animal encounters have predictable beats, from the audience's oohs to the flurry of raised hands as interpreters pose questions. But the moments when guests see ambassadors in a new light are truly special. That's when deeper connections are made.

"Watching people connect with an animal (familiar or not) is so cool; shaping their perceptions and answering their questions afterward is the best!" – Emma Vaughn, Guest Engagement senior interpreter

The relationship between ambassadors and staff becomes a conduit of sorts, drawing guests in and making the animals and species they represent more accessible. Watching their behaviors, seeing them make choices, hearing their stories ... maybe snakes, tortoises and other animals are not so different from us after all. So, what connection will you make during your next visit?

In memory of Dratini the bearded dragon, 2014-2026, a beloved National Aquarium ambassador animal.