The three sea lions, and one harbor seal look like they are having fun, getting an education.
Jeff Andrews said, "Learning is more effective when its fun, yes right, that's the key to training animals and these sea lions as well. Make it fun, make it enjoyable teach them to want to cooperate to want to participate and that's half the effort right there."
Andrews is an animal behavior expert from San Diego. He's been brought in to help teach the animals things like getting into a kennel. Something they will have to get used to in time for the big move to the much bigger sea lion cove.
Andrews said, "We're teaching these animals to prepare for this move so they will actually like it."
Learning to follow commands, and getting used to having people in the water are all part of the training process. The goal is to have the animals calm during the move, so they can enjoy their new home.
Lyn Myers said, "I think they will be very enriched moving over, anytime you move into a new house it's very exciting, even for us."
The new house is costing more than ten million dollars. Complete with rocks and pools it will have nearly ten times more water than their present home.
Myers said, "I think they are very comfortable in their exhibit but they are going to be great in this exhibit."
These training sessions will go on every day until the new sea lion cove exhibit is ready for the animals to move in.
The new sea lion cove is scheduled to be finished in September. Until then, the daily training sessions make a visit to the zoo even more fun for people.
