Toothless Dolphin Update

This one is for the Soldiers.

I was wondering about that dolphin with no teeth so me and dadda called SeaWorld. A guy told us that he's a very nice dolphin and his name is Stein. Sometimes that makes me think of Einstein or Frankenstein. That dolphin is so old that his teeth all fell out. Long long ago- 251 years ago- the workers saved him and took him to SeaWorld. Now he just swims and swims all day long. I know he is happy because he smiled at me. I wish that I could pet him but I didn't have any fish left. He's a good one and I love him so much. I will always remember that dolphin.

At first I thought Stein wasn't as old as my aunt Tammy, but now I think he is older because Tammy still has her teeth.

[Dad's Note: Ryan of SeaWorld's Education Department told us that Stein is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin in his early 40's. As dolphins tend to live about 25 years in the wild, Stein has greatly benefitted from his life at SeaWorld. Dolphins' teeth fall out with age, and unlike sharks, their teeth don't grow back. It is impossible to determine his actual age because this calculation is made by counting the growth layers in the teeth, of which Stein has none.

Several of the dolphins at SeaWorld are Stein's offspring. Stein spent most of his life at SeaWorld as a performing dolphin. He retired from show business a few years ago and has recently been moved to Rocky Point Preserve (or as Bridger calls it, the "dolphin touching tank"), where Bridger met him on Saturday.

According to the Captive Dolphin Database, Stein was captured/rescued on 5/23/1970. Erin of SWCali writes in to give us some insight on Stein:

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who prays for the dolphins. Luckily for Stein he doesn't really need teeth. Dolphins don't chew their food, and Stein doesn't hunt for his fish. Stein is a big sweetheart of a dolphin. I have had many opportunities to interact with him. He is very gentle with his interactions. Some of the other dolphins, mainly the young ones, come up and show a lot of energy. Stein is very easy going and calm when he comes up. He'll lay on his side for a nice rub, or he'll lay on his back for a nice belly rub. He doesn't interact near as much as the other dolphins do. I think he's kind of over the being rubbed down thing. He still seems to enjoy feeding time. He's up as fast as the rest of them when he sees the fish come out. For the most part he won't go up to his trainers if they aren't going to be feeding him.

Erin has a whole page full of pictures of Stein here. Thanks to Ryan and Erin for helping us ID and get to know this dolphin!]