It is common to watch dolphins jumping through a hoop, spinning in the air, receiving fish from the coaches’ hands and swimming in a huge pond, which seems to be normal. However, the practice of keeping dolphins within an artificial habitat in a dolphinarium is relatively recent, as well as the information about the dangers that are exposed captive dolphins.

BACKGROUND OF DOLPHINS IN CAPTIVITY.

This practice goes back to the nineteenth century when in 1860 a pair of belugas whales (Delphinapterus leucas) were held in the Museum of New York. Although Belugas are not precisely dolphins, the event marked a before and after in the dolphinarium industry. Several years passed until in 1938 the Marine Studios opened a dolphinarium in Florida, with the business model as we know today, this is, the one in which an audience pay to see dolphins doing tricks, and at that time they began with a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Marine Studios of Florida, later became Marineland and it has the title of being the first dolphinarium in the world. In 2011 the Georgia Aquarium purchased the park.

When this park opened, people realized that dolphins were able to learn tricks and perform stunts if trained, so this created a whole new industry that grew over time, and many other dolphinariums opened to the public. By 1970, there were about 36 dolphinariums in the United Kingdom alone.

Keeping dolphins in captivity is a practice not approved by conservationists and animal rights protectors.

It is important to say that captive dolphins are not only in dolphinariums and water parks to amuse people who pay to see a show. Sometimes dolphins are there for the purpose of being studied or protected if they are in danger of extinction, but in any case, the practice involves certain risks often ignored by most people.

LIFE IN CAPTIVITY

Within an artificial pond, dolphins usually have an infrastructure that resembles their habitat; The water must have an adequate depth depending on the species, and they must receive balanced food in a way similar to what they typically consume in the wild.

Dolphins also spend much of their time and energy learning tricks and coordinating their acrobatics to perform as a central attraction (in the case of dolphinariums) in exchange for food. In the same way, they can be trained to assist people suffering from congenital conditions like in the Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT).

OPPOSITE OPINIONS

Keeping dolphins (in fact, not just dolphins) in captivity is a practice not approved by conservationists and animal rights protectors. Captivity seems to be a kind of jail for an animal accustomed to freedom, having a social life interacting with hundreds of similar dolphins and behaving in a way that can not be entirely carried out in a reduced environment, regardless if the pond is quite large.

The dark side of captivity begins since the capture which has been described as “traumatizing” considering that hunters catch many dolphins since they are calves and separate them from their mothers in a stressful and even violent way. Later, they are transported in uncomfortable structures and taken to an unknown place for them. If you consider their close social ties and their memory capacity, the only conclusion is that for those captured dolphins the whole experience is a huge emotional shock.

The annual massacre carried out on Japanese shores is a brutal act, although local authorities have asked respect for this tradition. However, the water tinged with red provokes a significant rejection and indignation in the Western society. Some of the surviving dolphins, the youngest and strongest, are sometimes selected to be taken to water parks and work there as an attraction.

On the other hand, the research conducted while they are in captivity, although it can help to unravel aspects of their behavior and allow a better understanding of their life, it can have adverse effects on their health or include painful processes for them.

In the wild, dolphins travel several kilometers per day, live with their pod companions and other species of cetaceans and animals, emit sounds to communicate and capture their food alive. Living alone or only with a few mates in a dolphinarium limit their sophisticated social life which seems to be an important part of the dolphin life.

What do you think, should humans keep dolphins captive just because they can? Should we keep any animal at all? Is this a form of slavery? Mail us, and we will publish the interesting opinions.

TRAUMATIC PROCESS

Humans, have been capturing wild dolphins and even breeding them for a long time. Today even scientists and researchers keep dolphins in captivity for studying.

Dolphins, with their charmingly playful personality, breathtaking acrobatic ability, and affinity for humans, are among the most sought-after animals by people and their unique abilities are the subjects of research by those seeking to unlock the mysteries of their intelligence and communication.

But there is a dark side to keep dolphins in captivity because the methods used to catch wild dolphins disrupt pod populations and the capture process is hard on any dolphin; detached from the sea and their family, they are pulled into the harsh air where water doesn’t cushion their bodies. They experience trouble breathing, and their skin must be rubbed with lotion and doused with water so that it doesn’t dry out. In these conditions, they are transported for hours, unable to move, just to end in a tank filled with chlorinated water instead of the sea water.

Dolphins, seem reasonably resilient to captivity conditions. They accept humans and adapt well to being around them.

Around five thousand dolphins and other cetaceans have been caught for display, research, or military use over the last three decades. After some rather egregious abuses that led to dolphin deaths, the US and Canadian government now have strict controls over who may capture and keep a dolphin in captivity.

About three-quarters of the dolphins in captivity are females, and most captured dolphins overall are young. Though they seem to do well in captivity, they have a much shorter life expectancy than the dolphins in the wild.

Although the laws covering US and European dolphinariums are quite strict and detailed, this has not always been the case; in many countries, lax regulations have led to filthy, inadequate tanks, sick dolphins, and the death and suffering of many specimens.

References

Thomas I. White. In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Edward F. Gibbons, Barbara Susan Durrant, Jack Demarest. Conservation of Endangered Species in Captivity: An Interdisciplinary Approach. SUNY Press, 1995.

Pamela S. Turner. The Dolphins of Shark Bay. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

There are five species of dolphins that make their homes in rivers, being the most popular of them the Pink Dolphins also known as Boto, Boutu or Amazon River dolphins as it inhabits the Amazon River.

The scientific name of the Pink Dolphins from the Amazon is Inia Geoffrensis and they belong to the genus Inea, part of the family Platanistoidea, which is conformed by the five species of river dolphins.

Pink dolphins are not the same dolphins that you would see in the ocean; they have special adaptations to their habitat. In fact, river dolphins are only distantly related to sea dolphins.

They belong taxonomically speaking to different families. The oceanic dolphins belong to the family delphinidae while river dolphins belong to the family Platanistoidea as we said above.

Among the five species of river dolphins, Amazon pink dolphins are considered the most intelligent of them, with a brain capacity 40% larger than that of humans.

Pink dolphins inhabit the Amazon River, but they can also be found in the Orinoco basins and the upper Madeira River as well. While they are mostly pink, these dolphins have various colored skins, which can be light gray, pink, or brown.

The Amazon River pink dolphins conform the largest population of river dolphins in existence as the other four species are functionally extinct or close to extinction.

The river dolphins are among the most endangered species of all the world’s cetaceans. Pink dolphins have been listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a “vulnerable species-threatened” and recently was moved to “endangered species-threatened”

These friendly and social creatures have been living for centuries in the Amazon and its tributaries, but the accelerated destruction of the Amazon basin have put them in a every time more dangerous situation.

The raise in contaminant levels of mercury have caused and increased number of deaths among pink dolphins, especially near gold mines where mercury is used as part of the gold mining process.

The increase of traffic in the Amazon River, also threatens these creatures as they are curious by nature and they sometime approach to vessels where they are easily hurt by the sharp propellers.

Additionally, the noise produced by engines and motors and the sound pollution caused by them, has been considered to produce a disorienting phenomenon in their navigations systems, causing the death of many pink dolphins.

What do Pink Dolphins Eat?

Pink dolphins eat crabs, catfish, small river fish and even small turtles.

As crabs and turtles have to be catch mainly at the bottom of the river, pink dolphins spend a lot of time while swimming looking at the bottom of the river for food.

The boto cervical vertebrae are not fused allowing them to move their head up to 180 degrees, which is a great help for hunting in shallow waters and floodplains.

Hunting fish require some techniques like herding, where they round a fish pod to concentrate fish and take turns for feeding. This procedure is largely used by their oceanic cousins.

Physical Description of Pink Dolphins

In the Amazon Region…There is a legend about the Boto or Pink Dolphin. According to the legend, the Boto turns from man to dolphin and backwards, changing shape at will.

The legend also states that when dolphins find young women on the shore, they changes shape and impregnate them.

This comes from the similarites between certain body parts of the Boto and humans.

There are several other superstitions about the Pink Dolphins in the Amazon River and around.

Pink dolphins can be found in pink, light gray or brown colors but there is not conclusive evidence of the reason why pink dolphins are pink.

It could be an adaptation to the river life or caused by the presence of capillaries near the surface of the skin what provide them such impressive color. Additionally, pink dolphins get pinker when they are excited or surprised, resembling blushing in humans.

The Amazon River dolphin is between six and eight feet long, and weighs between 185 and 355 pounds when it is fully grown.

River dolphins are typically smaller than sea dolphins but they have longer snouts, an adaptation provided by evolution, which is needed to hunt at the bottom of the river. River dolphins also tend to have more pointy teeth than sea dolphins.

Most species of river dolphins are almost blind, due to navigating muddy waters, but their brains are extremely large and well developed, however pink dolphins are considered to have a relatively good sight.

Unlike sea dolphins, river dolphins have what resembles fingers on the ends of their flippers, and their dorsal fins are much smaller than that of sea dolphins or even have humpbacks instead of dorsal fins like the pink river dolphin.

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Behavior of Pink Dolphins

Pink dolphins appear to be the friendliest of all the river dolphins when approaching to humans and some stories of people being pushed to the shores by them are common among some tribes in the Amazon.

They swim up to 30 kilometers in one day, although they usually swim slowly looking for food at the bottom of the river.

“Amazon River Pink Dolphins are typically smaller than sea dolphins but they have longer snouts, an adaptation provided by evolution…”

How do Pink Dolphins Reproduce?

Males and Females mate to start a gestation period which is believed to last from nine to twelve months. Copulation is performed between males and females belly to belly.

Calves are born about 75 cm long and weighing a bit more than 1 Kg.

Pink dolphins deliver their babies when the Amazon River is at its high between the months of May and July.

Pink Dolphin Conservation

The World Conservation Union, also known as International Union for the conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization based in Gland, Switzerland, devoted to the conservation of natural resources.

It was founded in 1948 and groups 83 states, 108 governmental agencies and more than 10,000 scientists and experts from countries around the world.

The IUCN publishes a red list of threatened species which is a reference in the field and the base for conservation of species.

Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Frequently Asked Questions about Pink Dolphins

How Do Pink River Dolphins Reproduce

Why Are Pink River Dolphins Endangered

Why Are Pink Dolphins Pink

Where Do Pink Dolphins Live

Bottlenose Dolphin in Park

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Beautiful Bottlenose Dolphin in Aquarium

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Performing Bottlenose Dolphins

Bottlenose Dolphins in Marineland d’Antibes in France

Image Courtesy of: Arnaud 25 & Jean Loup P

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