Dolphin Captivity

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Dolphins have been charming creatures to human for centuries. However, this popularity sometimes directly leads to cruel and barbaric ways to keep them in captivity. This condition change dolphins a lot. Although they are the same animals, there exist many differences in habits, living conditions and human effects on the dolphins in the wild and in SeaWorld, which will be illustrated as follows.

To begin with, physical characteristics should be the first thing to be described. Dolphins are odontocete cetaceans which live constantly in an aquatic environment. Both sides of their brain take turns to work while the other side can rest momentarily. They are able to have communications based on sending each other diverse voices. SeaWorld dolphins and wild dolphins all have smooth and delicate skins. What’s more, they both feed on fishes, …show more content…

Nevertheless, life for dolphins in the SeaWorld is not optimistic in scope. Dolphins in captivity, contrasted with dolphins in the wild, spend only 20% of their time under the surface. A dolphin, which taken from its natural environment, has less possibility to survive in enclosure. Its life span is extremely shorter than that in the wild; over 50% of the dolphins in captivity will die in less than 7 years. Furthermore, they cannot easily adapt to transport procedures, during the capture process. They typically are herded towards the shore, trussed in a sling, and carried from the water to a transport vehicle which is all very traumatic to dolphins. Dolphins in the wild, however, are highly social creatures. They live in large groups which called pods (sometimes contained more than 100000 individuals), they also have a lot of interesting collective behavior, and there are many forms of cooperation among members of the group, for instance, clusters of dolphins would attack sharks, and kill them by impact. Members will also collaborate to aid injured or sick

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