It appears you have found a place where no zoochatter has gone before... Sorry, didn't take any pictures of it.
Simply for the opportunity to see the boto, go to Duisburg. I would say, why choose. The parks are perhaps 2 hours away from each other by car... If you're gonna spend a few quid just to see ceteceans, I would think the extra 50 to get to Harderwijk won't kill you.
I can see both sides here. On the one hand historical dolphinaria were often atrocious and anyone buying from Taiji ought to be boycotted. Stressful capture of dolphins (mostly bottlenose) shortens their lifespan as you might expect. However some species do better than others: Irrawaddy dolphins and harbour porpoises otoh. And even with bottlenoses the captive bred individuals fare better. Whereas globicephalines and killer whales do not do well at all. There are declining cetaceans need captive populations not just the river dolphins, the finless porpoise might be a good place to begin with that. I dont see why injured porpoises are not kept in UK aquaria like the seals for that matter. Like the criticism of polar bears in zoos the outrage turned irrational.
Given the scarity of kept specimens in comparison to, say, bottlenose dolphins or belugas, not the mist convincing examples...
Irrawaddies are displayed often in SE Asia. And yes belugas do well also. Belugas, Irrawaddies and harbour porpoises are all inshore/freshwater species might explain why they adapt best and the open sea globicephalines the least?
Regarding Irrawady dolphins: displayed, maybe. More or less continously bred and kept adequately to reach old age? Not that many . Harbour porpoises do not adept that well to captivity; that’s why only few institutions are currently keeping them.
Makes sense that any 1st generation of cetacean in captivity has problems: rescued or captured in a dolphin drive they will have problems either way. Cetacean species are more popular if they perform, same as eared seals are historically preferred over phocids. Anyway: what are stats for cetacean longevity by species in captivity? I was told Irrawaddies adapted best.
Told by whom? ^^ As for cetacean longevity in captivity: plenty of information on that in various publications and in various threads on this forum.
According to “Longevity of Mammals in Captivity" (Richard Weigl, 2005) the longevity record for a captive Irrawaddy dolphin is 14 years 3 months. The longest lived cetacean documented in the above book is a bottle-nosed dolphin, still alive in 2004, after 51 years 7 months in captivity. A few other long-lived captive cetaceans as recorded in the same book: · Pacific pilot whale, still alive in 2004, after 37 years 10 months in captivity · Risso’s dolphin lived 42 years 5 months · finless porpoise lived 28 years 10 months · harbour porpoise, still alive in 2004, after 20 years 4 months in captivity · Pacific white-sided dolphin lived 30 years 9 months · false killer whale, still living in 2004, after 33 years 7 months Finally, The South American river dolphin at Duisburg Zoo has been there almost 42 years; he arrived in March 1975.
If you're in the UK, why not do the same as many European tourists do? Go to Chanonry Point between Fortrose and Rosemarkie on the Black Isle, when the tide is rising. It's much less predictable than a dolphinarium, but much more exciting too because the dolphins are bigger and they play tricks with salmon rather than toys. Boat trips are available from Cromarty and Avoch.
That is what I did, I didn't see any dolphins due to being there at the wrong time, but it made a nice picnic spot! I only visited though after seeing some from the bridge over the Moray Firth, and then visiting a visitor centre (which gave me better views)....
Wild dolphins are unpredictable, as I said above. You were unlucky at Chanonry Point, but much luckier at North Kessock, where I have never had more than an occasional glimpse of a dolphin.
Point Lynas on the north coast of Anglesey is a very reliable land-based site for spotting porpoises - think I've only failed once in five or six visits. Also good for birding, of course. For best chance of porpoises head right to the end (there's a public footpath that runs right to the end, in front of the lighthouse) - they often swim and feed within a few metres of the shore.
