Ariel was born at SeaWorld Orlando in June of 2002 and joined the SLEWTHS family in the summer of 2003. She completed some foundational training with us and then spent a year and a half with a colleague of ours, while our facility was under construction. It was there that she was introduced to travel for public outreach programs throughout the United States. In May 2005, Ariel returned to SLEWTHS, where her focus returned to learning the remainder of her medical exam and obedience behaviors. Ariel is a very inquisitive, playful sea lion who enjoys interacting with her trainers and fellow sea lions. She is very creative when it comes to making up new and exciting games to play, and is a fast learner inside training sessions as well. She was one of the anchor animals for our Sea Lion Encounters program, relishing her superstar role, and was a key player in our k-12 Stewards program. Ariel also participated in cooperative research and internship programs.