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RobindV In reply to Boverisuchus [2017-06-04 15:53:20 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely not. Porpoises adapt quite poorly to captivity in the first place. The individuals we have in captivity are all rescued ones, not captured because they are an easy species to keep or because they are popular. They have a really short attention span, so they are much more difficult to train (and therefor difficult enrich in way of training). Cetaceans hide illness or injury very well, the porpoises being the best at this. When you spot something is wrong with them or read this in medical values it is often already too late. It takes personal keepers/trainers that know the animals very very well and who can spot any tiny behavioural differences that can point out something is wrong. So you can't have a very large team working with them. They are also mostly solitary or live in small groups in the wild. So you would as a park have only a few animals in comparison to quite a large tank. So in a nutshell; they require less space, but waaay more attention. I wouldn't say at all they are easier or better to keep than dolphins, orcas or belugas. In my opinion the bottlenose dolphin is still the ceteacean who is best adapted to captivity.

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Boverisuchus In reply to RobindV [2017-06-05 09:37:59 +0000 UTC]

I personally wish very dearly that Dolphinariums can reach a happy medium with animal rights as well as the animals's needs. I know that captive dolphins and orcas both live shorter lives in captivity. I think working towards better and more naturalistic enclosures would be a start, and if training is actually good for them, so be it. Maybe to put fish stocks in the tanks would help?

I am not a rabid animal rights person in case you were worrying.

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RobindV In reply to Boverisuchus [2017-06-05 15:16:18 +0000 UTC]

I think you are really misinformed. For one, captive dolphins get way older than their wild counterparts. 30 years old is very old aged in the wild and you do not find many animals reaching this age. It was therefor long thought that was their maximum age. In captivity there are many adult dolphins, if not the majority way past that. They are in their thirties, fourties and even fifties. The oldest recorded dolphin in captivity was Nelly, who died at 61 in 2014. That is double the lifespan of the wild! For killer whales it is not yet known if it is possible they get older than the maximum in the wild since we only have been keeping them for 49 years. The oldest whales in captivity are now in their fifties.

Training is actually good for them. They are very intelligent animals and since they do not need to hunt in captivity, the training is both mentally and physically enriching to them. Apart form that a very large portion of the training is husbandry and medical training. The training that makes it possible to draw blood from them voluntary for example and the training that makes it possible to inspect their bodies, take their temperature etc. without it causing them stress.

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Boverisuchus In reply to RobindV [2017-06-06 11:25:18 +0000 UTC]

I guess I should have looked beyond "Blackfish".

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RobindV In reply to Boverisuchus [2017-06-06 13:45:56 +0000 UTC]

You really should! There are a lot of 'legit' reasons why you could be against marine mammal captivity. But what frustrates me is that most people are against it based on things that are simply not true. I hope more people will look beyond just one documentary.

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Boverisuchus In reply to RobindV [2017-06-06 13:51:12 +0000 UTC]

I agree, thanks.

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RobindV In reply to Nimkish [2016-09-22 10:33:00 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely thanks for the comment

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RobindV In reply to Ninuturu [2016-09-02 13:09:47 +0000 UTC]

This is at Ecomare not Dolfinarium.

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Ninuturu In reply to RobindV [2016-09-02 16:25:17 +0000 UTC]

Ohh, I was confused

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