Towards late afternoon, school has ending for the day. And Sawyer quickly rushes out as he got to his bike and quickly paddles out.
But instead of heading home, he paddled across a bridge and soon followed a sign leading to the Clearwater Marine Hospital.
And he soon arrives as the placed looked it was close for the day.
And Sawyer approaches the front entrance, and saw that the door were locked and he looked inside. And then he moves around the building to try and see if he can find a way in. And soon Sawyer noticed a rescue truck that they have.
And shortly later, he hides his bike and approaches the back door which it clearly says only for employees. Sawyer approaches the doors, and just as he reaches out and is about to grab the handle, a sudden loud squawk made him jump back.
Sawyer looks up and saw a Great White Pelican and a Brown Pelican above him. And then the white pelican flies off, and then Sawyer turns back to the door. And he reaches and grabs the handle, and then pulls the door revealing it was unlocked.
And then Sawyer enters and walks inside.
Sawyer silently walks down a hall with a small aquarium and a poster of marine animals showing mostly whales. And he walks down the hall and enters a large section of the aquarium with a few models of Bottlenose Dolphins on the side of wall.
A skeleton of a West Indian Manatee which are common in Florida, a few small aquariums, and even hanging on the roof, was a model skeleton of a Sperm Whale.
The biggest toothed predator on Earth.
Sawyer looks up at the model skeleton and it even as a life like tail fluke.
Sperm Whales are the largest of the toothed whales. But males grow bigger than females, the biggest bulls can be over 60 feet long and even weigh over 60 tons. Sperm Whales are most famously known for making the deepest free dives of any Mammal. Some dives were known reaching over 3,000 feet, and they can stay under for 2 hours. And in which where they have their unseen legendary battles with Giant Squid.
Sawyer looks around and sees a large tank with windows showing dozens of fish and even a stingray. And near it was a small touch pool.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium was found in 1972, when a group of private volunteers decided it was time to establish a permanent marine biology learning center in the Clearwater area. And in 1978, the city of Clearwater agreed to donate the aquarium's current facility, an abandoned water treatment plant.
And soon it also became a marine hospital to tend injured sea life like sea turtles and dolphins.
And one time in 2001, a stranding of a 2 month old Sperm Whale calf at 10 feet long and half a ton was found on St. George's Island. And they soon named him George, and he suffered extreme emaciated and had multiple shark bites and even lost part of his left tail fluke. But sadly George passed away 43 days later as they tended him. But George made history of the longest lived Sperm Whale calf in a rehabilitation setting.
Sawyer looks around the aquarium, and then suddenly a squawk made him jump as he turned and saw the same 2 pelicans from outside have have somehow gotten inside. And the 2 pelicans landed on the floor near him.
"What?" Sawyer completely dumbfounded. "How did you get in here?"
The white pelican lightly squawked.
"Shh!" Sawyer shushed him. "Shoo."
But the 2 pelicans didn't even budged.
"Move. Scam." Sawyer tried to get them to move.
And then distant humming was heard as Sawyer looked around. And then Sawyer quickly turns to leave, but ran into Hazel carrying a cooler and it fell to the floor as the lid came off as ice cubes and small fish spreads across the floor.
And then the 2 pelicans quickly rushed to the fish on the floor.
"Rufus, no." Hazel said trying to stop him. "No, help. Get the fish!"
They quickly scooted as much fish as they could and tried to shoo the 2 pelicans away as they started scooping them into their beaks.
"Get the lid!" Hazel said.
And then Sawyer quickly grabs the lid and covers the cooler.
And the 2 pelicans gulped down the fish they snatched.
"Bad, Rufus. Bad." Hazel glared at the white pelican. "And Gular, you should know better." And then Hazel turns to Sawyer. "I named him Rufus because he lives on the roof."
And then Rufus and Gular leaves the room.
"One day he just shows up and now he thinks he owns the place." Hazel said and lifts the cooler up.
"I should just..." Sawyer begins to leave.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Hazel asked. "Don't you wanna see the dolphin? Isn't that why you came?"
Sawyer remained silent as Hazel recognized him.
"You're the boy from the beach, right?" Hazel asked.
"Uh..." Sawyer then nodded.
"Okay. But don't tell my dad." Hazel said. "He doesn't like civilians near the sick ones. How'd you get in here anyway?"
"Uh... The back door was unlocked." Sawyer explained.
"Oh, shoot!" Hazel exclaimed and shoves the cooler in Sawyer's arms and rushed off.
Sawyer held the cooler as he looks around, and then a resident Bottlenose Dolphin swam by passing some windows of a tank.
And soon Hazel came back.
"It's my job to keep it locked but I always forget." Hazel said and taking the cooler back. "Come on."
And then Sawyer begins to follow her.
"Is all this for the dolphin?" Sawyer asked about the cooler.
"Winter?" Hazel turned to him. "No, she can't eat this yet. She can barely move. I named her that. We had a Summer and Autumn. They got put back in the ocean. So, I figure season names are good luck. Anyway, these were for the other dolphins, but since they were on the floor... now they're for the turtles." And then they walked up a staircase. "We're picky about what the dolphins eat. We get them from the same place as restaurants. My dad says they eat better than we do. That is if you like sushi, which I hate." And she turns to Sawyer. "You don't talk much, do you?"
And soon they entered the 2nd level where the dolphins are kept.
"And these are the upstairs pools, where our dolphins are." Hazel said.
And then Hazel placed the cooler on a bench and went up to the railing of a pool where they saw 2 resident Bottlenose Dolphins.
"And that's Krista and Panama." Hazel introduced.
And then Krista and Panama came out of the water and made clicking sounds.
"Wave." Hazel turned to Sawyer.
"What?" Sawyer frowned.
"Wave." Hazel repeated.
Unsurely, Sawyer waves out to the 2 dolphins. And then Krista and Panama started splashing their flippers and made clicking sounds as if they were saying hi.
"Pretty smart, huh?" Hazel said. "Do you know that dolphins need to be in a pool with other dolphins?" She then grabs the cooler. "It's a law, because they're so social. Like us. Or me, anyway."
Dolphins like most Mammals, are highly social animals. And they have strong bonds between their pod members, and Sperm Whales have similar bonds with pod members as well. And elephants on land also have incredibly strong bonds.
And soon Hazel leads Sawyer to the sick bay, and in a large pool was Phoebe tending the dolphin calf now named Winter. And Chris and Aviva were also around the pool.
"Come on." Hazel whispered.
And they hid behind a desk with a small 2 row shelf and they climbed up to peak as Sawyer went up a ladder.
"She hasn't move since she got here." Hazel said. "She hasn't even opened her eyes."
As Hazel leaned forward a bit, the shelf tilted and then some things fell off as Hazel straighten it. And they ducked as Phoebe, Chris and Aviva looked over to them.
"Hazel, is that you?" Aviva said.
"Hazel." Phoebe lightly scolded.
"Hi, Phoebe." Hazel sheepishly waved.
"Who's that?" Phoebe asked seeing Sawyer. "You know your dad doesn't like people back here, honey."
And reluctantly, Hazel and Sawyer came out of their hiding place.
"I know, but he's the one who got the ropes off her." Hazel said. "He just wanted to see how she's doing."
"She's not good." Phoebe said holding Winter above the water for her to breathe. "There's a lot of dead tissue. Circulation to her tail was cut off for quite a long time."
Sawyer saw that most of Winter's fluke is mostly white from the blood flow cut off for so long.
"Okay." Sawyer nodded. "Thanks."
And then Winter opened her eyes and made the Tweety Bird sound.
"Tweety Bird." Hazel turned to him.
And then Hazel noticed her dad appearing.
"Quick, you gotta go." Hazel said. "Don't tell Dad."
And they quickly rushed off as Clay turns and approaches the sick bay.
And they quickly got back to the back doors, and Sawyer went to get his bike.
"Oh, hey. I'm Hazel, by the way." Hazel introduced. "Like the eye color?"
Sawyer remained silent for a moment.
"Oh. Sawyer." Sawyer introduced.
And then Hazel waved goodbye as Sawyer paddles off in his bike.
And Hazel closed the door and heads inside, but then she came back and locks the door.
Sawyer got inside his house and drops his bag on the floor. And then opens the fridge door and reaches and grabs a slice of pizza.
And then he got into the garage and got to his computer and researches on dolphins. And looks up on the dolphins of the world.
There 42 species of dolphins on Earth, and they come in different forms. They range in size from the Maui's Dolphin at 5 feet long and 110 pounds, to the Orca or Killer Whale that can reach to 30 feet and weigh over 6 tons. And out of all of them, the Killer Whale is the largest member of the dolphin family.
Some species like the Common Dolphin can live in pods made of 1,000 members. And some species of dolphins have they same or similar coloration as with Killer Whales, like the Hector's Dolphin, Dusky Dolphin and few others.
Most dolphins live in warm waters of the world's oceans. But the Hourglass Dolphin, Killer Whale, and the Southern Right Whale Dolphin are the only dolphins that can be found in the ice cold waters of the Southern Ocean of Antarctica.
There are even 6 species of river dolphins.
4 species are found in the rivers of South America, like the Amazon River Dolphin, Araguaian River Dolphin, Bolivian River Dolphin and the Tucuxi. While there are 2 species in Asia. Like the South Asia River Dolphin and the Baiji.
And next to humans, dolphins are the smartest animals on Earth. And they have proven to be highly intelligent, even problem solving intelligence.
And then Sawyer looks at a section on dolphin vocalization.
Dolphins are the most vocal of animals, and each dolphin has a signature whistle that why other dolphins can tell each other about. And their inner ear is located just behind the lower jaw.
And Sawyer listens to some of the dolphin calls.
A few hours later, Lorraine got home from work as a nurse and with a bag of groceries.
And she turns on a light and sighs.
"I'm home, Sawyer." Lorraine called.
She then walks over to the kitchen counter, and then stumbled.
"Ah! Sawyer." Lorraine looked down to the floor and saw Sawyer's bag left on the floor.
And then she sets her things on the table.
And she heads to the garage.
"How many times do I have to ask you, ple..." Lorraine entered the garage.
And then she saw her son sleeping on the desk, and she went up to him and gently wakes him up.
"Come on, son." Lorraine gently said. "Let's go to bed."
"What?" Sawyer said waking up.
"Come on." Lorraine gently helps him up.
Author's Note:
Gular is the Brown Pelican the Wild Kratts met in Season 3 Capture the Fishmobile.
Thought it might interest things.
