Dolphinarium
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- For the Tel Aviv discotheque named "Dolphinarium", where a suicide bombing took place in 2001, see Dolphinarium massacre
History
Though cetaceans have been held in captivity in both North America and Europe since the 1860's, dolphins were first kept for paid entertainment in the Marine Studios dolphinarium founded in 1938 in St. Augustine, Florida. It was here that an employee discovered during feeding that dolphins could be trained to perform tricks. Recognizing the succes of Marine Studios, more dolphinariums keeping dolphins for entertainment followed.In the 1960's, keeping dolphins in captivity for entertainment purposes became even more popular after the 1963 Flipper movie and subsequent Flipper television series. In 1966, the first dolphin was exported to Europe. In these early days, dolphinariums could grow quickly due to a lack of legislation and little care for animal welfare. New legislation, most notably the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act in the United States, combined with a more critical view on animal welfare forced many dolphinariums around the world to close their doors. As an example, at one point during the early 1970's there were 36 dolphinariums and travelling dolphin shows in the United Kingdom, none of which still exist today, the last dolphinarium in the UK having closed its doors in 1993. [iridescent-publishing.com] - The rose-tinted menagery
Design
A common dolphinarium design for public performances consists of stands for the public around a semi-circular pool, sometimes with glass walls which allow underwater viewing, and a platform in the middle from which the trainers direct and present the show.
The water in the pools has to be constantly filtered to keep it clean for both the spectators and the dolphins and the temperature and composition of the water has to be controlled as to best match the conditions dolphins normally live in the wild. To give an indication of pool sizes, the European Association for Aquatic Mammals recommends that a pool for five dolphins should have a surface area of 275m² plus an additional 75m² for every additional animal, have a depth of 3,5 meters for at least the minimum surface area and have a water volume of at least 1000m³ plus an additional 200m³ for every additional animal. If two of these three conditions are met and the third is not more than 10% less the EAAM considers the pool size to be acceptable. [Recommended EAAM dolphin housing standards]
Species
Various species of dolphins are kept in captivity and also several other small whale species such as harbour porpoises and belugas, though in those cases it is no longer a true dolphinarium. Bottlenose dolphins are the most common species of dolphin kept in dolphinariums, this because they're relatively easy to train, have a long lifespan in captivity and have a friendly appearance. Currently an estimated 3000 bottlenose dolphins live in captivity across the world. Orcas are well known for their performances in shows, but the amount of Orcas kept in captivity is relatively small compared to the amount of bottlenose dolphins. Of all Orcas kept in captivity, most are located in one of the SeaWorld parks in the United States. Some other species kept in captivity are Spotted Dolphins, False killer whales and Common dolphins, but all in much smaller numbers than the bottlenose dolphin. Two unusual and very rare hybrid dolphins known as Wolphins are kept at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii, which are a cross between a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale.Trade and capture
In the early days, most bottlenose dolphins were wild caught off the coast of Florida where they are common, but the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act put an end to this. In most Western countries, few new dolphins are wild caught and breeding programmes have been set up to provide the dolphinariums with new animals. To achieve a sufficient birth rate and to prevent inbreeding, artificial insemination (AI) is occasionally used. The use of AI also allows dolphinariums to increase the genetic diversity of their population without having to bring in any dolphins from other locations, which is a complex operation and very stressful for the animal.Live dolphins are still traded however, this simply because there is still a demand for them. A live bottlenose dolphin is estimated to cost between $20.000 and $130.000 US dollars, depending on age, condition and prior training. The trade of live dolphins is regulated by CITES. Cuba is the biggest exporter of dolphins, most of which are wild caught locally and kept at the Acuario Nacional de Cuba, followed by Russia and Indonesia. Some, mainly Japanese, dolphinariums obtain their dolphins from local drive hunts.
Animal welfare
Though animal welfare has improved significantly over the last few decades, many animal rights and welfare groups such as the WSPA still consider keeping dolphins at dolphinariums a form of animal abuse. The main arguments being that dolphins do not have enough freedom of movement in pools regardless of pool size and do not get enough stimulation. Indeed, dolphins often show repetitive behavior in captivity and sometimes become aggressive towards other animals or people, even having resulted in fatalities amongst both humans and animals. In some cases, the behaviour of dolphins in captivity even results in their own death which is seen by some as a form of suicide"...she swam over and looked me right in the eye, took a breath, and just held it. Just held it. Well so I grabbed her like this and she sank to the bottom of the tank. I let her go and she sank. I jumped in and pulled her to the surface. She committed suicide.", quote from [PBS.org interview with Richard O'Barry]. It is hard to say if it is however, this because suicide implies that a concious decision is made to end one's life, and so far there is no hard evidence that this is the case with dolphins.
It is claimed that the lifespan is significantly shorter for dolphins in captivity, but this is disputed and seems to vary between species. Research has shown that this is at least true for Orcas which have a much lower survival rate in captivity, while for bottlenose dolphins no significant difference between survival rates can be found. [Survival rate study of marine mammals in captivity]
See also
References
External links
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