Dolphin and whale species in captivity

Complete list

So I put together a complete list of cetacean species that are kept in captivity, or have been.

blue ones are those that are currently kept in captivity
red ones are these that have been kept in captivity in the past, but aren't anymore
unknown if still kept in captivity


short-beaked common dolphin
long-beaked common dolphin
atlantic bottlenose dolphin
pacific bottlenose dolphin
indo-pacific bottlenose dolphin
black sea bottlenose dolphin
commerson's dolphin
short-finned pilot whale
long-finned pilot whale
risso's dolphin
pygmy killer whale
false killer whale
melon-headed whale
killer whale
pacific white-sided dolphin
atlantic white-sided dolphin
white-beaked dolphin
dusky dolphin
fraser's dolphin
northern right whale dolphin
atlantic spotted dolphin (?)
pantropical spotted dolphin
clymene dolphin
striped dolphin
hawaiian spinner dolphin
rough-toothed dolphin
irrawaddy dolphin
australian snubfin dolphin
tucuxi
indo-pacific humpback dolphin
ganges river dolphin
indus river dolphin
baiji
amazon river dolphin
beluga
fransiscana
narwhal
harbour porpoise
finless porpoise
dall's porpoise
fin whale
bryde's whale
northern minke whale
humpback whale
gray whale
sperm whale
pygmy sperm whale
dwarf sperm whale
hector's dolphin
atlantic humpback dolphin

so out of the nearly 100 cetaceans (including several subspecies), at least 47 have been in captivity, 19 of which are currently kept in captivity, so that leaves us with just ~40 species of cetaceans that have never been in captivity.
several appearances of beaked whales in captivity have been confirmed, but their species remain unknown to this day.
and of course, there's the hybrids! and backcrosses.
blue - alive
red - deceased

Kekaimalu - false killer whale x bottlenose dolphin
Kawili'kai - wholphin x bottlenose dolphin
Bullet - short-beaked common dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
CJ - short-beaked common dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Aries - CJ x bottlenose dolphin
Bao - rought-toothed dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Kuri-Chan - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Purine - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Raisu - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Pop, Mint and Marron are all pacific white-sided dolphin x bottlenose dolphin.
Not to mention several hybrids of atlantic and pacific bottlenose dolphins, most notably in SeaWorld parks, but I couldn't find specific info on some of them.

There are several other hybrids in the wild:

Blue whale x fin whale
Harbour porpoise x dall's porpoise
and the most interesting one...dusky dolphin x southern right whale dolphin. you can find pictures of one if you google it, it's very interesting.

If anything's wrong, correct me, thanks :)

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities :D
 
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@EuropeDolphins, the Napier Marineland in New Zealand kept Hector's dolphins in the past (very unsuccessfully it must be admitted!). See Abel, R.S, A.G. Dobbins & T. Brown (1971) "Cephalorhynchus hectori subsp. bicolor sightings, capture, captivity" Investigations on Cetacea 3: pp. 171-179
 
jwer said:
Are Tucuxi still kept somewhere?
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I imagine there might be some in Colombia or other South American countries' aquariums?
 
Great list, EuropeDolphins! Thanks for sharing.

Chlidonias said:
I imagine there might be some in Colombia or other South American countries' aquariums?
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Yes, "Acuario Rodadero" (Rodadero Aquarium) in Colombia has some tucuxis.

Some places keep Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, I think that they are missing from the list. But I might be wrong.
 
you're right, I didn't notice the humpback dolphins were missing. I've seen them at the dolphin show on Sentosa Island in Singapore, and they are kept elsewhere in Asia too I'm sure.
 
Thanks for the corrections!
I added Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphins and Hector's dolphins on the list :)
Also Atlantic Humpback dolphins because I've seen a couple of photos of them in captivity, but I have no idea if they're still there.
 
Ermmm, I was in China a few years ago and one of the dolphins at this aquarium I visited was definitely a spinner. It had the dimensions for it and the sign said spinner dolphin. Also, there is a Franciscana in a zoo in either Central or South America. And on a website I visit frequently it said that a dwarf sperm whale had passed away at the beginning of the year, and it was a member of a group of three at this research centre in South America?
 
EuropeDolphins said:
So I put together a complete list of cetacean species that are kept in captivity, or have been.

blue ones are those that are currently kept in captivity
red ones are these that have been kept in captivity in the past, but aren't anymore
unknown if still kept in captivity


short-beaked common dolphin
long-beaked common dolphin
atlantic bottlenose dolphin
pacific bottlenose dolphin
indo-pacific bottlenose dolphin
black sea bottlenose dolphin
commerson's dolphin
short-finned pilot whale
long-finned pilot whale
risso's dolphin
pygmy killer whale
false killer whale
melon-headed whale
killer whale
pacific white-sided dolphin
atlantic white-sided dolphin
white-beaked dolphin
dusky dolphin
fraser's dolphin
northern right whale dolphin
atlantic spotted dolphin (?)
pantropical spotted dolphin
clymene dolphin
striped dolphin
hawaiian spinner dolphin
rough-toothed dolphin
irrawaddy dolphin
australian snubfin dolphin
tucuxi
indo-pacific humpback dolphin
ganges river dolphin
indus river dolphin
baiji
amazon river dolphin
beluga
fransiscana
narwhal
harbour porpoise
finless porpoise
dall's porpoise
fin whale
bryde's whale
northern minke whale
humpback whale
gray whale
sperm whale
pygmy sperm whale
dwarf sperm whale
hector's dolphin
atlantic humpback dolphin

so out of the nearly 100 cetaceans (including several subspecies), at least 47 have been in captivity, 19 of which are currently kept in captivity, so that leaves us with just ~40 species of cetaceans that have never been in captivity.
several appearances of beaked whales in captivity have been confirmed, but their species remain unknown to this day.
and of course, there's the hybrids! and backcrosses.
blue - alive
red - deceased

Kekaimalu - false killer whale x bottlenose dolphin
Kawili'kai - wholphin x bottlenose dolphin
Bullet - short-beaked common dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
CJ - short-beaked common dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Aries - CJ x bottlenose dolphin
Bao - rought-toothed dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Kuri-Chan - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Purine - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Raisu - risso's dolphin x bottlenose dolphin
Pop, Mint and Marron are all pacific white-sided dolphin x bottlenose dolphin.
Not to mention several hybrids of atlantic and pacific bottlenose dolphins, most notably in SeaWorld parks, but I couldn't find specific info on some of them.

There are several other hybrids in the wild:

Blue whale x fin whale
Harbour porpoise x dall's porpoise
and the most interesting one...dusky dolphin x southern right whale dolphin. you can find pictures of one if you google it, it's very interesting.

If anything's wrong, correct me, thanks :)

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities :D
Click to expand...

Another species that was held in captivity in the past that is not on your list is the Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a facility in Mexico kept them in 1994
 
fin whale
bryde's whale
northern minke whale
humpback whale
sperm whale
Can you give more details about these whales and how they ended up in captivity? I'm going to guess they were all stranded, young and didn't last long but I'd like to know more.
 
Can someone help me identify a dolphin species I found on the weird side of youtube (don't ask me how I got there please)? I'm asking here because this seems to be the most relevant thread. I know that most of the dolphins in this video are bottlenoses, but there is one that swims past the window at 0.12 (watch it with the sound off the narration is annoying, and please forgive the lowbrow subject matter) that doesn't look like any species I've seen or can find in my dolphin book. It looks like a Common Dolphin or a Pacific White Sided Dolphin but I'm not sure. Does anyone know what kind this is and where this is? I'm dying of curiosity. Thanks.

Dolphin Pooping - YouTube
 
chrisbarela said:
fin whale
bryde's whale
northern minke whale
humpback whale
sperm whale
Can you give more details about these whales and how they ended up in captivity? I'm going to guess they were all stranded, young and didn't last long but I'd like to know more.
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I believe there were at least two humpback calves kept as rescues but I'm having trouble finding info about them. I think one of them was at Sea Life Park in Hawaii but I'm not sure.
 
wensleydale said:
It looks like a Common Dolphin or a Pacific White Sided Dolphin but I'm not sure. Does anyone know what kind this is and where this is? I'm dying of curiosity. Thanks.
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it does look like a Pacific white-sided dolphin. It's definitely not a common dolphin.
 
sperm whales were four stranded calves kept temporarily at Miami Seaquarium (one in late July 1964, survived only a few days; and one in late August 1974, survived 5 days) and Seattle Aquarium (one in late September 1979, which likewise only survived a few days); the fourth animal was kept in a fenced bay on Long Island, New York, rather than in an actual aquarium but I don't know the date for that one. They were all new calves -- the Seattle one (originally stranded in Oregon) still had its umbilical cord when stranded.

There may have been other stranded calves kept elsewhere.
 
TheMightyOrca said:
I believe there were at least two humpback calves kept as rescues but I'm having trouble finding info about them. I think one of them was at Sea Life Park in Hawaii but I'm not sure.
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The Hawaiian one was a stranded calf in February 1981. It stranded at Punalu'u and was taken to Sea Life Park where it died eight days later from pneumonia.
 
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a stranded juvenile Bryde's whale was kept at Sea World of Florida. She stranded on 25 November 1988 and was released on 5 January 1989. She was 6.9 metres long and an estimated 1-2 years old.
 
minke whales have been kept at least three times in Japan at the Mito Natural Aquarium between the mid-1930s and mid-1950s (in an ocean pen rather than an actual aquarium); one survived three months, the others rather less.

There has also been at least one in the USA: at the San Diego Sea World, which lasted one day.

With regards to Japan they also had a plan to "farm" minkes in sea-bays:
Whale farm is Japan's big new idea | World news | The Guardian
January 2002

A Japanese city is planning to farm whales in a bay 620 miles south-west of Tokyo, to entertain tourists, studying breeding behaviour and, ultimately, to supply restaurants with meat.

The idea, which appals conservationists, involves trapping whales in the open sea and bringing them into a netted area of nearly two square miles.

Hirado, in Nagasaki prefecture, wants to erect observation platforms and jetties for tourist boats. The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research plans to use the whales for scientific research and to study breeding patterns.

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