One of the most precious myths that continue to be repeated by various anti-captive groups and NGO's is that dolphins are dying young in captive care and their survivorship is less than that their wild counterparts. As far back as 1986 when the UK government commissioned the independent review into the captive welfare of cetaceans by Drs. Klinowska and Brown this issue was held in doubt when reviewing the available evidence at that time. See the section on Morality from the Review of Dolphinaria linked HERE.
Since then a number of scientific papers have been published on this matter and the below article (which was original published in 1997 and reviewed in 2000) gives an overview of these findings which concludes that commonly kept dolphin species in aquaria are not 'dying to entertain you'; which was the headline of a poster campaign by various groups in the mid-1980's which resulted in the UK Advertising Standard Authority to order the removal of such posters as they could not be supported by the scientific facts.
DOLPHIN SUICIDE: Do dolphin commit suicide in captivity? A essay of the probable origin of yet another myth.
DOLPHIN SONAR: One myth that seems not to want to go away is that of dolphins not being able to use their sonar whilst in captive care. anti-captive activists and groups continue to perpetuate this myths despite their being no actual scientific evidence to support this contention.
DOLPHIN TRAINING: Do dolphins have to be abused to make them perform? A review of the history and an explanation of the techniques used in the science of animal training.
DOLPHIN INTELLIGENCE 1: How intelligent are dolphins. Cetacean expert Dr Margaret Klinowska reviews the evidence.
DOLPHIN INTELLIGENCE 2: A Bibliographic Guide to the Study of Dolphin Intelligence prepared by Linda Jones Roccos. An excellent reference resource for information of dolphins and issues of intelligence.
John Dineley © 2011 Email
