Basic Course: Behaviour, Training, Keeping and Reproduction

Who can participate?

• The course addresses all persons interested in dolphins, from 18 years of age, without any special qualifications and requirements. To ensure a familiar and personal atmosphere, the course is limited to 10 participants (the course will take place with a minimum of 4 participants).
• Upon the successful participation of the course you will be issued a certificate.

Contents of the basic course

• The course lasts five days, from Monday to Friday (40 hours).
  The program starts at 9 am and ends at 6 pm.
  Lunch break is from 1 pm to 2.30 pm.
• The course will be held in English language, very few lectures will be held in Spanish, but will be translated into English simultaneously.
• The course will be held at MUNDOMAR in Benidorm, Spain.
• The course is based on four modules:
  Dolphin behaviour, dolphin training, dolphin keeping and dolphin reproduction.
• The course consists of lectures from the staff of MUNDOMAR.
  These are practitioners that work with dolphins on a daily basis, like dolphin trainers, dolphin therapist, and veterinarian.

Furthermore the course consists of eleven practical parts:

• Observation of dolphin behaviour in the dolphinarium of MUNDOMAR.
• Observation of dolphin trainers at work, training and keeping.
• Observation of the head of dolphin trainers doing his daily job: training, keeping, filtration, fish kitchen.
• Observation of the veterinarian doing her daily job: taking of blood sample, echography, laboratory, research.
• Videos of dolphin specific material.
• Training dolphins.
• Dolphin recognition.
• Measurement of stranded dolphins.
• Encounter with our dolphins. You will be swimming and sitting by the pool side in a diver suit, touching and exploring the dolphins, learning hand signals and anatomy of dolphins with your own hands.
• Visit of the dolphin show, sea lion show and parrot show.
• For divers with a recognized diver's license and a valid dive insurance: a dive with our staff in our dolphinarium, maintaining, cleaning and repairing the pools.

If you are not in the possession of a divers licence, you can get it here in MUNDOMAR with our certified dive instructor within a week, so you will be able to dive with the dolphins by the end of the week. Please ask for prices.

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Course fee

The price of this course is 695.- €.

We are asking a deposit of 350 € when enrolling in this course, the remaining 345 € will be paid in cash on the day the course starts.

The course fee includes all lectures, all practical parts, an encounter with dolphins and possibly a dive with our dolphins. You will also receive a warm lunch menu at the preferential employee price of only 4 €.

Half of the course fee is used to realize the course, the other half will be forwarded to the Foundation Aqualandia Mundomar, to finance the -free of charge- dolphin therapy for children with special needs from all over Europe.

We are asking a deposit of 350 € when enrolling in this course, the remaining 345 € will be paid in cash on the day the course starts.

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Accommodation

We are able to offer you special low prices at the hotel www.palm-beach-hotel.com.
The accommodation is not included in the course fee.
If you want more information on the hotel prices, please contact me.

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Arrival

You can travel by car, bus, train or airplane. The closest airports are Alicante (35 km to Benidorm) and Valencia (155 km to Benidorm). Please refer to you travel agency or the internet.

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Course management

The course will be directed by Mrs. Camino Herreros Paris, Director of Dolphin therapy, Executive secretary of MUNDOMAR and the Foundation Aqualandia Mundomar, and by Mr. Branko Weitzmann, Dolphin therapist, educator, book author on dolphins.

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Detailed Information of the course

The dolphin: Behaviour, training, keeping, reproduction

The dolphin is the most legendary animal of our earth.
The human being associates the dolphin with extraordinary abilities like love, healing powers and rescue of human beings in distress at sea.
But what is the truth of all these stories and myths on dolphins?
This course offers an insight into the behaviour, training, keeping and the breeding of dolphins. This course shows the reality, the work, and the science behind the myth of the dolphin.

The details of the course contents:

The course is divided in four parts.
The dives will take place Thursdays or Fridays at 2.30 pm.
There will be a maximum of 3 divers plus instructor per dive.

Monday
morning welcome and presentation of MUNDOMAR, and the foundation Aqualandia Mundomar, Camino Herreros Paris, director of MUNDOMAR and the foundation Aqualandia Mundomar. Module 1: Dolphin behaviour The dolphin Questions and discussion
afternoon Social behaviour and ecology of the bottle nosed dolphin Cetology: investigation of whales and dolphins Adaptation to the water Development of behaviours The influence of the dolphin mother on the calf Visit of the dolphin show Observation of dolphin behaviour at the dolphinarium of MUNDOMAR Questions and discussion

Tuesday
morning Module 2: Dolphin training Training with marine mammals, theory Dolphin training in MUNDOMAR, with the head trainer dolphins, MUNDOMAR Dolphin recognition and identification, part 1: theory Questions and discussion
afternoon Rescue and rehabilitation of dolphins; first aid with marine mammals: what to do with a stranded dolphin? Release of dolphins from the dolphinarium to the open sea, case studies Dolphin recognition and identification, part 2: Practical experience Interactive observation of the head of dolphin trainers with his daily work: training, keeping, filtration, fish kitchen Questions and discussion

Wednesday
morning Module 3: Dolphin keeping Dolphin training and –keeping from the view of the veterinarian, Ani, veterinarian MUNDOMAR Enviromental enrichment of dolphins Dolphin keeping in MUNDOMAR Questions and discussion
afternoon Interactive observation of the veterinarian with her daily work: taking of blood sample, echography, laboratory, research Video of dolphin specific material Questions and discussion

Thursday
morning Module 4: Dolphin breeding Reproduction of the bottle nosed dolphin Births in MUNDOMAR: the most successfull breeding program in Europe The relation between mother dolphin and calf Visit of the sea lion show Questions and discussion
afternoon Visit of parrot show Encounter with our dolphins in the dolphinarium Questions and discussion

Friday
morning Observation and assisting of dolphin trainers training and keeping History of the relation human – dolphin Dolphin researcher Questions and discussion
afternoon The dolphin assisted therapy in MUNDOMAR Careers with marine mammals The human influence on dolphins and their habitat Train your pet Questions and discussion Farewell

Subject to change.

 

For general information on MUNDOMAR go to www.mundomar.es