Dolphin and whale species in captivity

and the last one: a stranded fin whale in 1993 at Sea World San Diego.

There have been several grey whales at San Diego as well, apart for the famous two.
 
I just came across this site too (I've used it before but forgot). I've included the following link to the "deceased dolphins" section (includes baleen whales etc) but it looks like the only way to use it is to search each facility individually rather than by species.

http://ceta-base.com/phinventory/deceasedphins/
 
wensleydale said:
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
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It's a Pacific White Sided Dolphin.
 
TheMightyOrca said:
Oooh, got any more info? I didn't know they were ever kept in captivity.
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there's a video of it here:


Text:
Watch exclusive footage of a live vaquita calf. Vaquita are the most endangered marine mammmals in the world. On May 13, 1994, a live vaquita calf stranded itself on the beach east of CEDO's field station in Mexico. The calf came to shore that afternoon about six miles east of the mouth of Estero Morúa, near Puerto Peñasco, and later was placed in the hands of CEDO staff by visiting Arizonans, who were staying at a beach house near the estero. Eventually the vaquita calf made its way to CEDO and was placed in a large tank. Urgent calls to marine mammal experts were made, asking them what to do, and specifically what to feed it. No one had ever held a live vaquita in captivity before. Despite the efforts of all involved, the animal died after about two hours at CEDO. The prognosis was never good, as the calf was very young and the chances of survival for a porpoise that young separated from its mother are very low.
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Pacific White Sided Dolphins in North America

Which facilities in North America currently permanently house Pacific White Sided Dolphins? By my recollection it there are four places, Miami Seaquarium, The Shedd Aquarium, SeaWorld San Antonio, and Vancouver Aquarium for total of about 20 on the whole continent. Is that right?
 
wensleydale said:
Which facilities in North America currently permanently house Pacific White Sided Dolphins? By my recollection it there are four places, Miami Seaquarium, The Shedd Aquarium, SeaWorld San Antonio, and Vancouver Aquarium for total of about 20 on the whole continent. Is that right?
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Vancouver Aquarium (0,2)
Helen, female, born ~1996, imported from Japan 2005
Hana, female, born ~2003, imported from Japan 2005

Shedd Aquarium (1,3)
Sagu, male, born 5/28/12, Li'i x Piquet
Piquet, female, born ~1993
Tique, female, born~ 1988
Katrl, female, born ~1993

Miami Seaquarium (2,4)
Li'i, male, born ~1988
Liko, male, born 5/25/09, Li'i x Loke
Loke, female, born ~1988
Kri, female, born ~1988, on breeding loan from the Shedd Aquarium
Munchkin, female, born 10/21/00, Jump x Laverne
Ohana, female, born 8/12/06, Li'i x Loke

Seaworld San Antonio (2,4)
Dart, male, born 9/8/03, (AI, Kamagowa SW) Arrow x Lorelai
Bolt, male, born 9/13/09, (AI, ???) ? x Catalina
Betty, female, born ~1980
Catalina, female, born 9/5/93, Jump x Lorelai
Avalon, female, 7/18/99, Jump x Catalina
Hailey, female, 8/28/99, Jump x Betty


Total: (5,13) 18 specimens
 
Because they don't really live in areas where dolphins are primarily caught nowadays.

There were several attempts many years ago to keep spinner dolphins in captivity (especially in Hawaii), however none of them were successful long term. They main issues are that they are a flighty, oceanic species that stresses easily, and they prefer different foods to typical aquarium dolphin fare.

I'm willing to bet that if there were attempts to start a captive population now, they would establish much more successfully, especially if kept in aquarium settings (think ocean voyager and other large tanks) and with their particular needs catered too. There are two females currently captive (rescues that have been captive for a few months), so we'll see how they do. They both have hearing damage so likely non-releasable, and luckily they in a better facility for the region they are in so hopefully they do well.
 
Hyak_II said:
Because they don't really live in areas where dolphins are primarily caught nowadays.

There were several attempts many years ago to keep spinner dolphins in captivity (especially in Hawaii), however none of them were successful long term. They main issues are that they are a flighty, oceanic species that stresses easily, and they prefer different foods to typical aquarium dolphin fare.

I'm willing to bet that if there were attempts to start a captive population now, they would establish much more successfully, especially if kept in aquarium settings (think ocean voyager and other large tanks) and with their particular needs catered too. There are two females currently captive (rescues that have been captive for a few months), so we'll see how they do. They both have hearing damage so likely non-releasable, and luckily they in a better facility for the region they are in so hopefully they do well.
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Ah, okay. Thanks!
 
I know there was one at Mote Marine Laboratory (Harley) but she passed away. She was a rescue. She was a companion to their Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Moonshine). They were both Stenella species, I guess they thought they would be good for each other.
 
Hyak_II said:
Because they don't really live in areas where dolphins are primarily caught nowadays.

There were several attempts many years ago to keep spinner dolphins in captivity (especially in Hawaii), however none of them were successful long term. They main issues are that they are a flighty, oceanic species that stresses easily, and they prefer different foods to typical aquarium dolphin fare.

I'm willing to bet that if there were attempts to start a captive population now, they would establish much more successfully, especially if kept in aquarium settings (think ocean voyager and other large tanks) and with their particular needs catered too. There are two females currently captive (rescues that have been captive for a few months), so we'll see how they do. They both have hearing damage so likely non-releasable, and luckily they in a better facility for the region they are in so hopefully they do well.
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Where are these two female dolphins?
 
wensleydale said:
I read something a while back about how there is support for listing Bigg's Transients as a separate species.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/science/27whale.html?src=sch&pagewanted=all&_r=1&

I wonder what we'll have to call Taima, Katerina, and Taima's offspring then. They would be hybrids.

Then again this is from 2005 and I don't know whats going on in the science world right now.
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I would love to read a study of captive orcas vocalisations and how animals from different populations "talk" to each other. I presume they all adopt elements of each others "language". I wonder how the young develop their repertoire of calls, is it based on their mothers or is from the whole captive group.

Is Tilikum a transient or resident?

Is there any data on the correlation between trainer injuries and the type of whale involved.

It would make sense if the transient (mammal hunters) were responsible for more attacks.

Captive orcas fascinate me and I have never been able to get any conclusive answers to my questions
 
There are so many variables (including confounding variables) with captive Orca's of whom I find fascinating as well. For example Lolita is a resident who apparently likes it best when you are in the water with her, can imitate things like seagulls and police sirens, and works best when you have a relationship with her. But then again shes been kept from conspecifics for most of her life. Kanduke (Taima's father) was not considered safe for waterwork and he was a Bigg's Transient. However he was when he was a juvenile. Orkid is not safe for waterwork and she is half Northern Resident and half Icelandic. But we barely know anything about Icelandic Orca's. Katina has always been sweet and gentle with her trainers and she is a full blooded Icelandic. Kayla also half Northern Resident and half Icelandic but unlike Orkid she is also sweet and gentle.

Then there's the whole question of nature vs nurture, the circumstances under which the animals lived during different periods of their lives, etc. Clearly ancestry isn't the only thing at work here. It is a fascinating subject. And we know so little about wild Orca's as well.

Did you know that there's some iffiness about the feeding habits of Newfoundland's Orca's? They have been seen hunting minke whales, but there is also at least one case of a young male cooperating with one to catch fish. Neat, huh? Maybe they eat fish and mammals.

Atlantic Whales | Orcas | A-Pod

Of course there could be multiple types of Newfoundland Orca, it's not a well studied population. I would like to see some DNA testing going on with ever population, captive or not, I would laugh if Tillikum turned out to be Keiko's half brother or something.
 
wensleydale said:
Did you know that there's some iffiness about the feeding habits of Newfoundland's Orca's? They have been seen hunting minke whales, but there is also at least one case of a young male cooperating with one to catch fish. Neat, huh? Maybe they eat fish and mammals.

Atlantic Whales | Orcas | A-Pod

Of course there could be multiple types of Newfoundland Orca, it's not a well studied population. I would like to see some DNA testing going on with ever population, captive or not, I would laugh if Tillikum turned out to be Keiko's half brother or something.
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Newfoundland orcas eating multiple types of animals is interesting. I'm always on the lookout for information about the orcas in the Gulf of Mexico, and from what little information I can find, supposedly they eat dolphins and tuna. But I can't find what they're classified as, and they might not even be classified as anything yet because so little is known about them. This population tends to stay pretty far from shore, so they aren't spotted too often.
 
Vulpes said:
I would love to read a study of captive orcas vocalisations and how animals from different populations "talk" to each other. I presume they all adopt elements of each others "language". I wonder how the young develop their repertoire of calls, is it based on their mothers or is from the whole captive group.

Is Tilikum a transient or resident?

Is there any data on the correlation between trainer injuries and the type of whale involved.

It would make sense if the transient (mammal hunters) were responsible for more attacks.

Captive orcas fascinate me and I have never been able to get any conclusive answers to my questions
Click to expand...

I've always thought Tilikum was a resident, but while looking for sources to prove my claim, I keep running into conflicting information, blah.

Only a handful of transient orcas have been kept in captivity, since they're harder to track down due to their larger ranges, it's harder to get them to adapt to a diet of dead fish, and they're apparently more aggressive than resident orcas.

Anyway, I too am interested in the topics you listed. The debate on whether to classify different types of orcas as different species or subspecies or whatever has been going on for a while, but scientists don't really know enough about the species to make concrete decisions yet. (there is some good genetic evidence that Type D orcas might be a different subspecies or even species, but there are no Type D orcas in captivity, so no hybrids to study) However, we do know that different populations aren't well known to mix much, except in captivity. And in captivity, they mix animals that would DEFINITELY never meet in the wild. (SeaWorld has been using sperm from Kshamenk, an Argentinian transient in another park, for AI) As long as they are being kept in captivity, I would love it if there was more research done on this kind of thing. I'd be interested in the morphology of hybrids, for instance, or studies on how genetics might affect personality. (which might be difficult since life experiences would have to be taken into account, of course) Transients, at least in the wild, are often described as more aggressive. Does the same hold true in captivity when they interact with other orcas or humans?

I'd also be curious to see if hybridization affects how orcas bond and the like. Transient orcas tend to have looser family structures than residents. Would it be less stressful to separate a transient mother and her (adult) offspring than it would be for a resident mother and her offspring?
 
I have never heard of Kshamenk. I just googled him there, facinating!

Its a pity there is not a comprehensive book on Orca in captivity.
 
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