Cetacean vs. Elephant Captivity
- Thread starter BlackRhino
- Start date
Agreed. There's a difference between how much an animal CAN move daily and how much it needs to move to stay physically and mentally healthy. Most animals that move a lot are usually doing so for food, water, and mating. Many animals would probably gladly stay in a small area if those things were all easily available. That's not to say I support keeping animals in small enclosures, really, there is a minimum, and I think zoos should give animals as much space as they can.
That said, I don't think it's really possible to create good conditions for orcas.
Since I don't think this warrants a separate thread, what do you guys think of the whole Morgan situation? The judge is set to make a decision in a few days.
She should never go back to the wild, because she would die.
She's deaf, which means she can't see or hear, she can't contact a pod and they can't contact her. Stumpy can hear, which means she can find pods.
She will either starve to death, or eke out living begging from people, until she gets hit by a propeller.
She's deaf, which means she can't see or hear, she can't contact a pod and they can't contact her. Stumpy can hear, which means she can find pods.
She will either starve to death, or eke out living begging from people, until she gets hit by a propeller.
I agree. Releasing Morgan would be a death sentence to her.
However, I am of the opinion that she should be moved to a different park, Marineland France to be exact. With a proper adult matriarch and a stable social structure, Morgan would find life to be much better as opposed to the somewhat chaotic social structure at Loro Parque. Additionally the two mature males there are fairly poorly represented in the captive gene pool and would be ideal mates for morgan.
However, I am of the opinion that she should be moved to a different park, Marineland France to be exact. With a proper adult matriarch and a stable social structure, Morgan would find life to be much better as opposed to the somewhat chaotic social structure at Loro Parque. Additionally the two mature males there are fairly poorly represented in the captive gene pool and would be ideal mates for morgan.
If keeping Morgan in captivity is the only way to keep her alive, I suppose your suggestion is the best. As it stands, Loro Parque doesn't seem to be the best available (captive) environment for her. Though if she's deaf, would it be a good idea to breed her, assuming the cause of the deafness is genetic?
Though personally I think it would be interesting if they could use her to experiment with a seapen enclosure for orcas, where people can view her from boats and platforms. Eh, whatever works.
Her deafness might be due to trauma. She wasn't a young calf when she get separated from her pod, she was at least three years old, so she managed to keep up with her mother's pod somehow.
I don't know nearly enough about killer whales though. Perhaps her family were keeping a close eye on her for her first few years but as she got older she became more independent and wandered off, and could not find them again.
She's still very young though. There are several years left before she should be mating if she is going to be used for breeding. Plenty of time for genetic tests.
I don't know nearly enough about killer whales though. Perhaps her family were keeping a close eye on her for her first few years but as she got older she became more independent and wandered off, and could not find them again.
She's still very young though. There are several years left before she should be mating if she is going to be used for breeding. Plenty of time for genetic tests.
Yeah, if she was born deaf, the age at which she was found could suggest that survival might not be a problem for her, provided she can be reunited with her family. A healthy 9-year old deaf, mute bottlenose dolphin has been found in the wild, which COULD set precedent for her survival possibilities (though that dolphin might've been an exception rather than any norm). But there haven't been many cases of orca rehabilitations and releases into the wild, which makes the issue trickier.
Killer whales have pretty strong family bonds, (they typically stay with their mother for her entire life, though this depends some on the population) so it's pretty rare for a calf to be separated from its family. (which again means there aren't many previous incidents to go off of here) For Morgan, one speculation is that she may have been separated in a storm, but there's no way to say.
Agreed on the breeding thing. If she's kept in captivity, I hope they don't breed her too early.
Do we know where her exact family is? If we did then release might be possible.
Trying to foist her on any other group (which is how Stumpy survives) probably won't work.
Stumpy can find new groups when she gets lost or abandoned, Morgan would get left all alone.
Her getting separated in the first place probably wasn't the result of anything dramatic. She likely wandered off and then simply couldn't find the rest of her family. They might not have understood that she was deaf.
Trying to foist her on any other group (which is how Stumpy survives) probably won't work.
Stumpy can find new groups when she gets lost or abandoned, Morgan would get left all alone.
Her getting separated in the first place probably wasn't the result of anything dramatic. She likely wandered off and then simply couldn't find the rest of her family. They might not have understood that she was deaf.
Her extended family (and possibly some closely related members) has been tracked down, but there's no guarantee that she's going to integrate back in. There have only been a few orca rehabilitation and release cases, so there aren't many past incidents to go off of. Springer was quickly integrated back into her family after she was orphaned (mother believed to have died) and rehabilitated, but is one case enough to have much confidence?
But yeah, reuniting her with her family is going to be the biggest factor in whether or not she can (or should) be released, and survive. Keiko was able to learn to hunt and could survive on his own in the wild just fine... But with no family to go to, he eventually just started hanging out with humans for the companionship. We can't really count on some random, unrelated orca group to adopt her. That also appeared to be the issue with Luna; when he got separated from his family, he started to look to humans and boats for socialization even though he could meet his own physical needs.
Orcas are pretty smart. If Morgan was born deaf, I'd imagine her family would've noticed before she got separated. Though we'd have to ask an expert for confirmation on that. It's been reported that when dolphins interact with humans, they make lower pitched noises, as if they know we can't hear some of the sounds they use to communicate with other dolphins. So maybe? I dunno.