Ann Hoedt '07

Majors: Biology with minors in Psychology and Environmental Science

Fun with Flipper: After graduating, Ann moved to Miami, Florida to take a position as a marine mammal trainer at the Miami Seaquarium. She works primarily with Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins and Pacific White Sided dolphins, performing in the "Flipper Dolphin Show" and "Killer Whale and Dolphin Show".

"I have learned so much from the animals I work with, but one of the most important things I have learned is patience," she said. Overcoming the communication barrier, learning the animal's personality and taking the time to build a strong relationship with the animal is very important in training, Ann said. "It takes not only patience but a lot of planning, trust, and repetition to teach an animal a new behavior," she said.

Some of her favorite behaviors she has taught include belly flops, splash bows and breaches. Ann said she is also "very passionate about training husbandry behaviors to maintain the overall health of our animals, such as endoscope, weight, and behaviors relating to artificial insemination."

Take it with you: Ann said her Otterbein courses taught her the fundamentals about how to care for the animals and the major training theories and techniques. At Otterbein, Ann was also exposed to many opportunities to get involved in marine and malecological research, she said.

"It allowed me to travel all over the state of Ohio, and even to places like Belize and the Dominican Republic for research. Otterbein also aided in securing me a very important internship at the National Aquarium in Baltimore with the Marine Mammal Training Program," she said.

In the future, Ann said she plans to continue working with marine mammals and educating the public about conservation and preservation of the ocean and its inhabitants. "I am also interested in participating and conducting research studies involving marine mammals to find a greater understanding of their social structure, behavior, echolocation, inter-species communication and our human impact on these animals," she said.