Orca's in Captivity

   Each year, millions of people support aquatic theme parks such as SeaWorld without thinking of the negative effects these parks have on the organisms that live in them. One major marine mammal that is suffering due to a life in captivity is the Orca Whale. In nature, these creatures live in the open ocean with thousands of miles to travel every year. In captivity, they are forced into small living quarters that are not conducive to their development. In these forced environments, Orca's are shown to have shorter life spans with an average life expectancy of 30-50 years as compared to a life expectancy of 60-100 years in Orca's in the wild. You may have also noticed that Orca's in captivity have collapsed dorsal fins. This phenomena is a sign of an unhealthy Orca and is not naturally seen in nature. Below is a picture of an Orca in captivity with a collapsed dorsal fin, along with statistics on how many captive Orca's there are throughout the world.

     Just as the picture above states, keeping Orca Whales captive is not what nature intended. Many of us heard of the tragic deaths caused by a killer whale named Tilikum. This poor creature was only 2 years of age when he was stolen away from his mother in Iceland waters. Tilikum is now past 30 years of age and has been used to breed more than 54% of SeaWorld's Orca's, despite his aggressive behavior. It is no wonder, however, that Orca's in captivity become aggressive because they are forced into small areas that humans would view as bathtubs. If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you would get a little psychotic? The story of these whales in captivity was put into perspective as the 2013 film Blackfish was released. This emotional film gained international attention as the sad story of Tilikum began to unfold. Although three human deaths have been caused by this animal, SeaWorld continues to hold degrading shows, almost acting as if these animals are merely a commodity. 

     In an effort to stop the captivity of these magnificent animals, one California lawmaker proposed a ban on Orca's in captivity, which could potentially outlaw Shamu shows in San Diego California (SeaWorld). The lawmaker states that there is no justified reason for the continued captivity of these animals. They are far too large and intelligent to be confined to such small living quarters. If this proposal were to be accepted, then all ten Orca's at the San Diego location are to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild where possible. Already, human preferences towards captive Orca's are beginning to change. This can be seen in the image below. 

     Due to lack of good human judgement, many Orca's have been in captivity for too long. Their health, life expectancy, lack of care, and living conditions are completely lacking in these man made habitats. SeaWorld sounds like a fun place to go, until we dig deeper and realize the inhumanity that occurs behind the scenes. To understand all of the hardships faced by Orca Whales, I recommend watching the documentary on Tilikum and many other Orca Whale's called Blackfish.

REFERENCES:

1)Cowperthwaite, G. (2013). Blackfish. Retrieved from http://blackfishmovie.com/about

2)Kirby, D. (2014, March 7). Calif. lawmaker to propose ban on orca's in captivity. Retrieved from http://deathatseaworld.com/?p=966

3)PETA. (2014). Seaworld of hurt. Retrieved from http://www.seaworldofhurt.com/

Killer Whale Communication and Family Bonds

Ever since watching the increasingly popular "Blackfish" documentary on TV, I've been interested in learning more about the Killer Whale. Two topics that were slightly touched on in the documentary were communication among the Killer Whales, as well as their strong family bond among the species.

In my presentation, I plan to talk about the types of communication that Killer Whales use both in captivity and in the wild. Two studies that I found talk about whistle communication, acoustic communication, and clicking. Killer Whales use this kind of echo-communication to tell each other where prey are/how to attack the prey, to warn each other of surrounding predators, to call to others (if lost/separated, etc), to give direction to others on where to swim, and even to advertise to others the type of bond between two whales (like dominance or territory). Within groups of Killer Whales, some types of communications are shared with the entire group, while others are only shared by some of the other whales. Parameters and distance are also a factor when it comes to communication; Killer Whales will use specific kinds of communication patterns depending on if they are far away or near each other. It can also depend on if invasive species are in the area as well.

Echo-communication slightly blends in with the topic of the family bonds that Killer Whales have. I found a study that talks about gene flow and genetic structure within the Killer Whale species. It found that there were low levels of genetic diversity, indicating that there's not only low gene flow, but that Killer Whales tend to stay together in their pods. They also found that dispersal among Killer Whales are rare even after they've matured, further indicating the bond of the pods and showing that there still is gene flow even without dispersal!

Below are the primary literature that I will be using:
1a. Whistle Communication in Mammal-eating Killer Whales (OhioLink Abstract)
1b. Whistle Communication in Mammal-eating Killer Whales (Full PDF)

2a. Vocal Sharing and Individual Acoustic Distinctiveness Within a Group of Captive Orcas (OhioLink Abstract)
2b. Vocal Sharing and Individual Acoustic Distinctiveness Within a Group of Captive Orcas (Full PDF)

3a. Gene Flow and Genetic Structure (OhioLink Abstract)
3b. Gene Flow and Genetic Structure (Full PDF)


Since this was inspired by the controversy between "Blackfish" and SeaWorld, I may try and find information from their sites to add to the conversation, as well.