Ok I posted a question on whether or not people had seen that pink dolphin. I remarked that I hoped SeaWorld would not try to capture the youngster and make him do tricks. And I got a reply that I should not stereotype Sea World, and that they did not capture Dolphins but had breeding programs. So I added that I stood corrected.
But then I got curious and googled Orcas and found two really great websites.
orcanetwork.org/news
and worldanimalfoundation.com
Sea World with holds food to force the animals to perform, they also isolate them.
Male orcas live between 50 and sixty years, and female orcas live between 80 and 90 years. the ones at sea world rarely survive to age 11 years. Then I read the Killing Tanks by Gary Hanauere.
It seems two orcas became so stressed that they repeatedly dragged trainer Jonathan Smith to the bottom of the tank in an apparent attempt to drown him.
Then I read about Lolita, an orca that people are trying to free.
So is Lolita free now.
2007-09-22 11:04:35 · 4 answers · asked by Anne2 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Thank you, tchaikovsky and frootbat, everything is relevant, just collecting information. I suppose future generations will look on us as being in the dark ages.
2007-09-22 16:17:01 · update #1
I'm not 100% sure of the relevancy of this but killer whales do not survive long in captivity. Killer whales, or at least open ocean killer whales or transient killer whales, eat a lot of seals, dolphins, penguins and whales such as the gray whale for example and even the blue whale. These nutrients never make it into the orca's diet in captivity because there is a nationwide ban on marine mammal meat (for nonnative peoples) for the past several decades FOR ANY PURPOSE. The loss of these vital nutrients does not sustain them for very long. Again, I'm not 100% sure that it is relevant to this discussion.
2007-09-22 15:51:54 · answer #1 · answered by Professor Armitage 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I asked a similar question not an hour ago. Some time after I did I realized why. What sea world is stuck with now is an orca with no skills of obtaining food or living in the wilderness. Although I believe it should be released in the wild, if that were to happen I wouldn't help but be worried about the poor thing accustomed to being fed fish daily and doing tricks for an audience in a much larger environment with no family or knowledge of how to live. This whale is really in a pickle D:
2016-05-21 01:29:18 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seaworld also splits apart families, when everyone knows Orcas are highly socialable animals with very strong family ties.
Sea World claims they will not capture Orcas or Dolphins from the wild. most of the sea mammals are now bred in captivity. However, they are not above simply buying sea mammals from other aquariums who DO hunt/capture these creatures.
Lolita is still in captivity
http://www.orcanetwork.org/captivity/lolitatoday.html
2007-09-22 15:58:07 · answer #3 · answered by Frootbat31 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
go watch the movie "Free Willy"
2007-09-22 11:27:45 · answer #4 · answered by Brown Beaver 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋