Commentary
Dolphins need a better habitat than the zoo can give them
by Maggie Ryan Sandford
Maggie Ryan Sandford is a science writer for mental_floss and ComedyCentral.com.
The world-renowned dolphin researcher who taught at my college offered his Marine Mammals class only once every four years. Why? Because my college is located in St. Paul, Minn., which — you know — has no ocean.
Our professor believed it was impossible to learn about marine mammal research without seeing it conducted, or to conduct that research anywhere but in the animals' natural habitat. So he included in the curriculum a trip to the Bahamas, where we could board real research ships and learn from real marine biologists. Eagerly, I signed up, thinking: What an opportunity. I'm finally getting the education I paid for.
But a few days into the term, we learned we wouldn't be going. Something about a tangle in the college bureaucracy. Instead of getting real research experience with wild dolphins, we were going to visit the dolphin exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo.
My professor spoke the words like a detainee forced to lie for his freedom.
That might sound overdramatic, but it's not. The difference between studying dolphins in the wild and visiting them at the zoo speaks directly to the argument over dolphin captivity.
Dolphins are highly intelligent. Studies increasingly suggest that they are at least as intelligent as chimpanzees — maybe more so. They recognize themselves in the mirror, which means that, scientifically speaking, they have a "sense of self." So it's absurd to think they could live healthy, fulfilling lives confined in a tank. Even more absurd, perhaps, is the notion that good science could be conducted on dolphins in such an environment.
If there's one thing research on dolphins in captivity has taught us, it's that they are stressed. (This also applies to orcas, which are actually big, black-and-white dolphins.) They consistently exhibit erratic behavior and inflict harm on themselves and their tank-mates — sometimes on their trainers. They suffer from unnatural afflictions like chlorine poisoning and stomach ulcers. It was complications from a stomach ulcer that killed Taijah, the juvenile dolphin who died last February. Five others died at the zoo in the five years before that, including seven-month-old Harley, who mistakenly jumped out of his tank and hit his head on the deck between the pools.
To be honest, I don't remember much about the dolphin show that we saw. There was the requisite ball-tossing and leaping for dead fish. But the trainers and researchers seemed knowledgeable and compassionate.
After the show, they let us come up to the tank and pet the dolphins' taut, gray skin. They described each one's unique personality. I remember staring deep into a dolphin's eye, searching for a sign of his feelings, of some longing for the faraway ocean. But a dolphin's facial structure doesn't allow for expression of emotion. That so-called "dolphin smile"? He always does that.
So no one really knows whether the zoo's surviving dolphins would smile at the news that the dolphin exibit will soon close. But I'm smiling.
Comments (9)
I'm smiling, too. Thank you so much for thi article. So many researchers find themselves supporting captivity because . . . I am elated to find a young mind and your professor more like Jacques Cousteau who recognized that dolphins should not be in captivity. www.coveblueforjiyu.com
Thank you so much for sharing the TRUTH about captivity. I hope your readers/listeners will take your comments very seriously...and try to imagine themselves trapped in the same small room in their home forever. That is the life of a dolphin in captivity. Zoo patrons come and go, but the dolphin is left to swim circles in a tiny tank - a far cry from its ocean home. Thank goodness for your professor. We need more like him and more like you.
I find this article very refreshing! Thank you for writing it. I wish our society would see the truth in captivity and see an end to it everywhere.
please don't ill treat animals...its WRONG!
Thank you so much for bringing this MORE public. Dolphins belong in the wild where they can be free. A dolphin travels on average 50 miles per day. Those tanks...no matter how big are just not well suited. Thank you again for your post!
I am greatly saddened that Ms. Sanford's vacation to the Bahamas got deep sixed.
How regressive of our educational system to fail to provide a Caribbean Vacation to all students.
And poor Harley. All that vast genetic intelligence, and yet, somehow, unable to differentiate between water and cement. Life is, truly, unfair.
Or, perhaps, it was merely another case of juvenile suicide. His parents, or classmates down at the school, made fun of him, or failed to understand his particular narcissistic needs.
In any case, it was a tragic loss, and certainly requires a few government funded studies to do it justice. And, you know, a University credit course that may just develop into a well rounded subject.
It is just all so sad, you know?
Why doesn't the government DO something?
Add to all of that the fact that bottlenose dolphins (the kind at the MN Zoo) aren't currently endangered and it makes even less sense to hold them in captivity. Good choice, MN Zoo!
I just have to point out the high level on incompetence within Terry's comment. Don't make a statement that shows absolutely no knowledge of the subject.
Now to get back on topic.
This is a big sigh of relief to know that the zoo is closing the dolphin exhibit. People need to think about how it would feel to live like the dolphins do. Dolphins are VERY similar to us in intelligence, and coherence. Knowing this, should be enough to convince people to understand why dolphins CANNOT live in tanks.
I can agree with you in many ways about the ills of captivity for dolphins, yet there are many who thrive there AND we humans don't often get to see them in the wild so seeing, touching and learning of their vast intelligence helps them in the long run. They are more likely to be conserved in the wild if we get to know them in captivity. The Cove shows Japanese slaughter of dolphins. Tuna are slaughtered but who cares? We eat tuna without worry. Kill a dog or cat and we rightly get upset because we know and interact with them daily as our pets.
We & MN Zoo do need to learn from mistakes and keep the dolphins safe. I totally agree with you that it's the stress that is killing them. The old male has learned to deal with it. The young dolphins have not. Imagine having the ears and sensitivity of a concert violinist and being placed in a concrete room where you can hear every minute sound echoing over and over. LaVoiz and LaMaz in France created a whole new concept of birthing babies without violence and part of their concept was that the acoustics in a sterile operating room were harsh on a child's ears. That with 500 watt lights blasting into new eyes caused children to cry when born. My wife and I had all 3 sons by Lamaz and in homey environments due to this. None of our boys cried, but instead were actively alert, aware and happy.
We need to be this caring and sensitive to dolphins in captivity.
There is so much more that cold be done with and for dolphins.
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