Clearwater Marine Aquarium comes to aid of new dolphin - Tampa Bay Business Journal I feel this is worth mentioning, there is an Atlantic Spotted Dolphin that has been rescued and taken to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It looks as if (due to its age) it will be in captivity for the rest of its life. I have no idea how it is doing, the only article I can find is from two weeks ago and I hate navigating their website so I haven't looked there.
Not much. There's not a whole lot of information on them in general. They're rarely seen since they tend to stay far from the shore and hang out in deeper water, and move fast. Most of the articles on them say the same stuff. Someone I met online has been attempting to contact the researcher who has been looking for them but hasn't gotten a response. Some recent video and photographic evidence has led some researchers to believe that the Gulf might hold more orcas than previously thought, but information is still scarce. Apparently an orca beached itself and died on South Padre Island several years ago, but I can't find any details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sPWbFg2HWE Marine Expert on Orca Population in the Gulf of Mexico - KiiiTV.com South Texas, Corpus Christi, Coastal Bend Killer whales in Gulf of Mexico? It's true - US news - Environment | NBC News http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ao2012whki-gmxn.pdf I really hope scientists learn more about them in the coming years. I swear, if I had a boat I'd be driving myself looking for them!
Resident, transient, and off-shore are categories primarily used to describe orcas living in the Pacific North West. Meaning that the Icelandic population from which the majority of captive Orcas were collected aren't entirely relatable. Although supposedly, the social structure of Icelandic orcas most closely resembles that of PNW residents. But if you were to liken the Gulf of Mexico orcas to one of the three categories, I would definitely consider them "off-shore" to an extent. Given the distance they remain from the coast. Although their diet may yield a different classification (?)
Yeah, the categories can get kind of confusing, since each population is unique. Few populations outside of the Pacific Northwest are well-studied, so the same ecotypes are often applied in discussion on those populations even if there are significant differences. And I have been wondering what the Gulf orcas would be classified as, but again, no info. I thought about offshore. Thing is, very little is known about offshore orcas too. Not enough data to classify Gulf orcas at all. I wonder if Gulf orcas fed on Caribbean monk seals back when they were still around? No way of knowing, I guess.
North Atlantic Killer Whales May Be Branching Into Two Species An interesting article on North Atlantic Killer Whales. We might need to start an Orca thread if there isn't already. We could potentially have two going, one for taxonomy/behavior and one for general news.
The oldest bottlenosed dolphin in human care,"Nellie", born in 1953 at Marineland Florida, passed away May1.
Wanted to share this, wasn't sure where to. Members of the cetacean research community (of which the Dolphin Research Center is a member) as well the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums, are not happy (and with good reason) at Lori Marino. Click on "When Scientific Objectivity Isn't." I'm glad someone of consequence is finally calling her out. Hot Topics - Dolphin Research Center
Does anyone here think that some of the smaller bailine whales like the minke whales can be kept in captivity? They are not much larger than orcas, so would it be possible within "normal limits" to build a tank for minke whales that can sustain them on a permanent basis?
Considering the controversy surrounding orcas is only continue to intensify and there's agreement even among pro-captivity folk that the existing exhibits just aren't doing the job right, I think we have a long while to go on any larger whales. I'm still hoping to one day have the pleasure of seeing some Amazon river dolphins.
I think it would be possible, but I don't see it happening in the near future. I bet the Japanese would be the first to try it, given that they plan to start a minke farm in the near future. I hope I get to see a Rough Toothed Dolphin at some point.
Common minke whales have been kept in captivity (Mito Aquarium, Japan and if I remember correctly, in Taiwan, too). As for Amazon river dolphins, go to the Amazon, Venezuela's Valencia aquarium or to Duisburg zoo. There's also one kept in a zoo in Peru, but from what I've heard and seen on pics, I wouldn't go there..
I've seen quite a few videos of Duisburg Zoo's dolphins and while I feel very sorry they are limited to a lone animal, the exhibit itself seems nice and I'm jealous of the people who can go see them. I do hope they are allowed to import more to populate the exhibit. I know the local Shedd Aquarium had a dolphin in the eighties and was almost furious to find out there had been one so close by, though I would not have been able to see it in any case. I think this was one of the longer-lived specimens in North America though.
Chances of Duisburg acquiring new botos are very low. Once "Baby" is gone, the exhibit will probably house manatees.
It's technically feasible, but financial and political factors would make it near-impossible. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in China attempted it, but I doubt this is going to happen in the West.
You know what I think would be neat? Hourglass Dolphins, but I don't see it happening. If I remember correctly there was an Amazon River Dolphin in Pittsburgh until the early 2000s.
You're correct. Pittsburgh's last amazon river dolphin, Chuckles, died in 2002. The third-to-final Amazon river dolphin in captivity in the U.S. was the Shedd Aquarium's Chico, who was there from 1966 to 1982 and had the record for longest-living river dolphin in captivity until Chuckles broke it. I only recently located photos of him. Both facilities kept their dolphins in shallow habitats and in the former case at least (details on Chico are scarce) added a little resting space for them, while other facilities did not, which created stress and is why their dolphins died so quickly. I'm quite surprised smaller cetecean species aren't popular in captivity, they would solve some of the bigger issues with the larger species such as space.
