[Music]
[Applause]
think about an animal that you’ve loved
at some time in your life perhaps when
you were young think about how you cared
for them the relationship you shared the
things you did together we often think
about what we do for the animals that we
care for and that we love in this world
but it sometimes might be worth it for
us to think about what it is that they
do for us they come to our aid they care
for us
they give us unconditional love they
trust us in some cases they even lay
down their lives for us perhaps the
animals that we love and care for in
this world are not just our best friends
but the greatest teachers we’ll ever
have for me that first spirit animal was
a 400-pound bottlenose dolphin named
Spock admittedly not the most typical
spirit animal guru but in California in
the 70s it wasn’t even weird
I first met Spock when I was a scuba
diver at a Marine Park in California on
San Francisco Bay and even though the
job was really pretty basic
I basically scrubbed tanks and clean
windows it was a job of a lifetime for
me I couldn’t get enough of it
and I couldn’t get out of the water so
each day near the end of the day I would
find my way back up to the dolphin show
tank
Spock’s home where I would swim with
Spock and his pod for hours sometimes
after all the humans had gone home the
park was long closed the Sun was going
down I felt that Spock and I shared a
kind of a special bond I felt I felt I
felt welcome I think for my part I
brought to those dolphins new stimuli
new something different something to
relieve the boredom of their life in a
featureless concrete tank for Spock’s
part he helped me feel
a sense of connection like I was part of
their pod and for a nerdy 18 year old
who had no idea what his future was
going to hold it was a rare gift for the
next four years my career advanced I
went back to college and I even ended up
in management at that Marine Park but
from time to time I’d go get my wet suit
put it on and get back in that tank with
Spock and his family the pot his pod
and each time it was it was it was a mix
of a leash of a above emotions of
elation over how lucky I was to be able
to swim with these remarkable beings and
also a sense of sadness that the limits
that we humans had placed on their lives
what I couldn’t have known then was that
those swims would inspire me 30 years
and a lifetime later and they would even
lead me to the National Aquarium where
were forging a powerful new movement to
change the way we humans interact with
the animals with whom we share this
planet and it starts with dolphins to
better understand how we advance that
mission we first have to talk about
empathy countless studies have been done
on the ability of animals both non-human
and human to feel empathy for each other
in fact most scientists agree that
empathy could concurs or brings an
evolutionary advantage to those
higher-order mammals such as great apes
dolphins and whales and humans but we
humans have a unique ability to not only
feel the empathy but also to be able to
act on it so if empathy is how we feel
compassion is what we do about those
feelings how we act on them and this is
and as with the dolphins mmm compassion
and empathy come with them some very
important and challenging commitments
compassion is not something that we’re
born with it’s a skill that we have to
similarly dolphins whales and humans
share the need for this kind of empathy
interestingly some of our best lessons
in empathy come from the animals that we
love think about the sensations we get
from animals pets that we’ve loved joy
compassion trust even grief at the loss
of a beloved pet or animal then these
notions of empathy and compassion have
huge implications for how we treat other
animals on this planet like this guy
Foster Foster is the consummate
youngster he’s energetic Lively he’s
constantly on the move
he loves to spar with his buddy beau he
gives us humans quite a running for
their money too Foster was born 11 years
ago at the National Aquarium and he’s
lived his entire life in this carefully
controlled environment he shares that
home with six other remarkable
personalities like these three
Chesapeake Bay Lee and Jade and although
we give them the best care and attention
of any aquarium anywhere we’ve come to
realize we can give them a better life
in fact we owe it to them a new life in
a home designed specifically and
thoughtfully to meet their needs and not
only ours and so in 2016 we made a huge
and crucial decision at the National
Aquarium that by the 2020s we would move
our dolphins to an ocean sanctuary
this would be a place in the tropical
Atlantic in natural seawater and with
lots of stimuli for the Dolphins in this
new home
the Dolphins will feel for the first
time a sensation of raindrops on their
dorsal fins think about that they’ve
never actually felt rain they’ve never
seen lightning outside the building
they’ll be able to explore in a spacious
environment and interact with their
family groups there will be challenges
that they have to face dangers both the
Dolphins and their human counterparts
for example hurricane Michael red tides
and other dangers that we humans create
pollution oil spills and who knows what
other challenges that we can only
imagine that at this time but dolphins
are an incredibly resilient species
they’ve lived on this planet largely as
they are today for five million years to
give our naive dolphins a head start
we’re working with them all individually
to acclimate them to this new life
they’re going to lead one of the ways is
we’re changing the temperature in their
exhibit in their tank to simulate the
changes of the seasons so the water
temperature goes up and down through the
seasons now we’re also introducing new
stimuli mangrove roots sea grass and
even beach umbrellas for Foster and his
pod even the idea of getting used to
their humans wearing sunglasses and
flip-flops
instead of wet suits and booties is kind
of a big thing in their new sanctuary
when the Dolphins get there
there will be unseen risks and dangers
that we can’t even forecast but one
thing we know they’ll be able to learn
new skills without the legacy
expectations that we humans have placed
upon dolphins to jump balance balls
I’ll do shows instead they’ll be free to
chase a mangrove snapper across the
surface or toy with a spiny lobster on a
coral reef or just wonder at the
bioluminescent beauty of plankton on a
dark night in short Foster and the
others will be able to be dolphins
people often ask me why spend so much
time energy and money on just seven
dolphins I tell them I have a fairly
uncomplicated answer for that compassion
our empathy inspired us but our
compassion called us to act and if we
can do just one thing to improve their
life even just a little we know it’s the
right thing to do being able to see the
world through the eyes of our dolphins
there’s been a real rare opportunity for
me it’s also an awesome responsibility
as with the twenty thousand animals that
we care for at the National Aquarium
it’s also very important to us to tell
that story to share those experiences to
the world we’ve come to realize that we
have a commitment to those dolphins and
all living things that if we’ve learned
more about their lives and ways to take
care of them in ways that have not yet
been tried we owe it to them it’s been a
long journey with the dolphins and we
have a long way to go but when our
empathy called us to act it was our
compassion that made us do it
in the end it’s not really what you do
or who you come to know but how you feel
and how you act on the empathy that you
feel your compassion and that that is
what animals teach us thank you very
much
[Applause] [Music]
[Applause]
think about an animal that you’ve loved
at some time in your life perhaps when
you were young think about how you cared
for them the relationship you shared the
things you did together we often think
about what we do for the animals that we
care for and that we love in this world
but it sometimes might be worth it for
us to think about what it is that they
do for us they come to our aid they care
for us
they give us unconditional love they
trust us in some cases they even lay
down their lives for us perhaps the
animals that we love and care for in
this world are not just our best friends
but the greatest teachers we’ll ever
have for me that first spirit animal was
a 400-pound bottlenose dolphin named
Spock admittedly not the most typical
spirit animal guru but in California in
the 70s it wasn’t even weird
I first met Spock when I was a scuba
diver at a Marine Park in California on
San Francisco Bay and even though the
job was really pretty basic
I basically scrubbed tanks and clean
windows it was a job of a lifetime for
me I couldn’t get enough of it
and I couldn’t get out of the water so
each day near the end of the day I would
find my way back up to the dolphin show
tank
Spock’s home where I would swim with
Spock and his pod for hours sometimes
after all the humans had gone home the
park was long closed the Sun was going
down I felt that Spock and I shared a
kind of a special bond I felt I felt I
felt welcome I think for my part I
brought to those dolphins new stimuli
new something different something to
relieve the boredom of their life in a
featureless concrete tank for Spock’s
part he helped me feel
a sense of connection like I was part of
their pod and for a nerdy 18 year old
who had no idea what his future was
going to hold it was a rare gift for the
next four years my career advanced I
went back to college and I even ended up
in management at that Marine Park but
from time to time I’d go get my wet suit
put it on and get back in that tank with
Spock and his family the pot his pod
and each time it was it was it was a mix
of a leash of a above emotions of
elation over how lucky I was to be able
to swim with these remarkable beings and
also a sense of sadness that the limits
that we humans had placed on their lives
what I couldn’t have known then was that
those swims would inspire me 30 years
and a lifetime later and they would even
lead me to the National Aquarium where
were forging a powerful new movement to
change the way we humans interact with
the animals with whom we share this
planet and it starts with dolphins to
better understand how we advance that
mission we first have to talk about
empathy countless studies have been done
on the ability of animals both non-human
and human to feel empathy for each other
in fact most scientists agree that
empathy could concurs or brings an
evolutionary advantage to those
higher-order mammals such as great apes
dolphins and whales and humans but we
humans have a unique ability to not only
feel the empathy but also to be able to
act on it so if empathy is how we feel
compassion is what we do about those
feelings how we act on them and this is
and as with the dolphins mmm compassion
and empathy come with them some very
important and challenging commitments
compassion is not something that we’re
born with it’s a skill that we have to
similarly dolphins whales and humans
share the need for this kind of empathy
interestingly some of our best lessons
in empathy come from the animals that we
love think about the sensations we get
from animals pets that we’ve loved joy
compassion trust even grief at the loss
of a beloved pet or animal then these
notions of empathy and compassion have
huge implications for how we treat other
animals on this planet like this guy
Foster Foster is the consummate
youngster he’s energetic Lively he’s
constantly on the move
he loves to spar with his buddy beau he
gives us humans quite a running for
their money too Foster was born 11 years
ago at the National Aquarium and he’s
lived his entire life in this carefully
controlled environment he shares that
home with six other remarkable
personalities like these three
Chesapeake Bay Lee and Jade and although
we give them the best care and attention
of any aquarium anywhere we’ve come to
realize we can give them a better life
in fact we owe it to them a new life in
a home designed specifically and
thoughtfully to meet their needs and not
only ours and so in 2016 we made a huge
and crucial decision at the National
Aquarium that by the 2020s we would move
our dolphins to an ocean sanctuary
this would be a place in the tropical
Atlantic in natural seawater and with
lots of stimuli for the Dolphins in this
new home
the Dolphins will feel for the first
time a sensation of raindrops on their
dorsal fins think about that they’ve
never actually felt rain they’ve never
seen lightning outside the building
they’ll be able to explore in a spacious
environment and interact with their
family groups there will be challenges
that they have to face dangers both the
Dolphins and their human counterparts
for example hurricane Michael red tides
and other dangers that we humans create
pollution oil spills and who knows what
other challenges that we can only
imagine that at this time but dolphins
are an incredibly resilient species
they’ve lived on this planet largely as
they are today for five million years to
give our naive dolphins a head start
we’re working with them all individually
to acclimate them to this new life
they’re going to lead one of the ways is
we’re changing the temperature in their
exhibit in their tank to simulate the
changes of the seasons so the water
temperature goes up and down through the
seasons now we’re also introducing new
stimuli mangrove roots sea grass and
even beach umbrellas for Foster and his
pod even the idea of getting used to
their humans wearing sunglasses and
flip-flops
instead of wet suits and booties is kind
of a big thing in their new sanctuary
when the Dolphins get there
there will be unseen risks and dangers
that we can’t even forecast but one
thing we know they’ll be able to learn
new skills without the legacy
expectations that we humans have placed
upon dolphins to jump balance balls
I’ll do shows instead they’ll be free to
chase a mangrove snapper across the
surface or toy with a spiny lobster on a
coral reef or just wonder at the
bioluminescent beauty of plankton on a
dark night in short Foster and the
others will be able to be dolphins
people often ask me why spend so much
time energy and money on just seven
dolphins I tell them I have a fairly
uncomplicated answer for that compassion
our empathy inspired us but our
compassion called us to act and if we
can do just one thing to improve their
life even just a little we know it’s the
right thing to do being able to see the
world through the eyes of our dolphins
there’s been a real rare opportunity for
me it’s also an awesome responsibility
as with the twenty thousand animals that
we care for at the National Aquarium
it’s also very important to us to tell
that story to share those experiences to
the world we’ve come to realize that we
have a commitment to those dolphins and
all living things that if we’ve learned
more about their lives and ways to take
care of them in ways that have not yet
been tried we owe it to them it’s been a
long journey with the dolphins and we
have a long way to go but when our
empathy called us to act it was our
compassion that made us do it
in the end it’s not really what you do
or who you come to know but how you feel
and how you act on the empathy that you
feel your compassion and that that is
what animals teach us thank you very
much
[Applause] [Music]
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