Download How are animals and the environment affected by marine animal

How are animals and the
environment affected by
marine animal captivity?
Introduction
For many years we have taken aquatic animals away from their natural
habitat, for our own entertainment and research, but we have never taken
into consideration the damage, both mental and physical, that we are doing
to them. In the next slides we will be discussing what occurs to the Dolphins,
Orcas, Marine Turtles and penguins when they are kept in captivity. As well
as how keeping whales in captivity is affecting both the marine and
terrestrial ecosystems.
Cetaceans
What are cetaceans
They are marine mammals most famous for being in
captivity since very young, this is due to their big size.
They include popular mammals such as dolphins, whales
and porpoises
Life as cetaceans
About 86 total species are classified as cetaceans, this is
just a rough number as new species are being discovered
and other species are reclassified
Being mammals their body temperature is the same as us
(humans), surprisingly they even have hair. Some can
swim more than 50 km/hr
Types of cetaceans
Being divided by how they eat, there are many types.
However most classify them by two suborders: the
Mysticetes and the Odontocetes. Mysticetes have comblike plates of baleen coming from their jaw, while
Odontocetes actually have shaped teeth in order to eat
animals as a whole instead of little by little.
How much captivity is there? (Orcas)
There are currently 42 orcas being held
around the world.
In total about 137 orcas have been taken
into captivity since 1961, 91% of them
are now dead.
The company with the largest number of
orcas being held is Sea World Inc. with
19 orcas in captivity.
How much captivity is there? (Dolphins)
Dolphins are much more common in captivity
despite still getting similar psychological, social
and health problems during their period of
captivity.
In comparison to the 19 orcas in SeaWorld Inc,
there are 144 dolphins in captivity today.ç
Their lifespan is very short, 16 of all dolphins in
the the park have been dead while stillbirths.
Only 8 were alive after 30 years old. In the wild
these animals can live for more than 40 years.
Effects of captivity for dolphins
Communication:
Dolphins use sonar to communicate with each other, when
dolphins are placed on a small pool their sonar bounces
off the walls and confuses them.
In the wild, dolphins use echolocation to catch their
prayers, something they cannot practice or developed
when being fed by a human.
Effects of captivity for dolphins
Behaviour:
Dolphins mothers are one of the most matternal creatures
on earth, calves are taught to use natural instinct to
survive something a human simply cannot teach. This goes
against their nature and cannot fully compete with their
siblings when released in the vast ocean.
References for introduction (cetaceans)
http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/captive_orca_stat
istics_march2011.pdf
http://elizabethbatt.com/2014/10/sixty-two-bottlenosedolphins-dead-in-10-years-at-seaworld-parks/
http://marinelife.about.com/od/marinelifeprofiles/p/cet
aceans.htm
http://animals.pawnation.com/captivity-affects-marineanimals-4396.html
Orcinus Orca
Orcas or killer whales
Orcas: General Info
Mammals with carnivore diet feeding on seals, sea lions, whales,
fish, squid, and seabirds.
Biggest species of the dolphin family and one of the strongest
world´s predators. According to Baird, Robin W (2002), “males
range from 6 to 9.7 m and weigh over 8 tons, while females range
from 5 to 7 m and weigh 3 to 5 tons.”
Hunt in effective and cooperative family pods of up to 40
individuals, having remarkable social bonds. As whales are able to
make a wide variety of communicative sounds, every pod has a
distinctive sound.
Found in coastal mild temperature water regions with prey
abundance.
Humans may be considered second to this animal, due to their
strong sense of self, family orientation, and behavioral and
linguistic traits.
Orcas: General Info
As shown in the map, orcas are distributed along the world´s seven oceans
Orcas affected by humans
The species is being endangered by their decaying habitats,
unintended entanglement with fishing nets, acoustic pollution by
vessel disturbance, decreasing prey sources and international
take for display around the globe.
Even if hard to track due to their wide distribution, it has been
estimated by Forney KA, Wade P (2006), that currently, there are
about 50,000 orcas around the world, with about 55 known orcas
in captivity.
Orcas are beautiful species to watch due to their stunning size and
majestic way of being, which makes it very profitable for
companies like SeaWorld to have them in display in their theme
parks.
By observing orcas in captivity and researching them in the wild,
different factors indicate that as any other wild animal, they are
not meant to be kept captive. These factors will be further
explained in the following slides.
Captivity on Orcas:
High Mortality Rates
Contradicting general belief, even if lacking
wild ocean life problems like water and
acoustic pollution, scarce prey and vessel
disruption and being provided with medical
and nutritional care, marine mammals in
captivity have a lower life expectancy than
those in their natural habitats
Small and DeMaster in a paper published in
1995 about captive mammal survivorship
stated that orcas die two and a half times
faster in captivity than in the wild, captive
orcas maximum age is the wild orcas´ mean
dying age. In a stable environment, female
orcas can reach up to 80 to 90 years, dying at
a mean age of 46 years and male orcas can
live up to 60 to 70, dying at a mean age of 31
year. Most captive orcas die in their 20s,
having just two female orcas over 40 years old
and no captive males hit the 35 year old mark.
Captivity on Orcas: Captive-born orcas
Even if the infant mortality rate is unknown in wild
orcas as they are not usually seen on the surface
until they are about 6 months old, it is important to
query how orcas that are a result of theme park
husbandry, that count with full time veterinarian
attention since pregnancy and constant intake of
food, have an infant mortality rate of 50%, having
the first successful and oldest captive-born orca,
Kalina, lived just up to 25 years old.
Apart from this, captive-born orcas have shown a
detachment from their maternal figures, a huge
contradiction to the wild orca instinct to stay with
their mothers throughout their lives.
Captivity on Orcas:
Dorsal Fin Collapse
Wild
Captive
Captivity on Orcas:
Dorsal Fin Collapse
One of the most remarkable characteristics of orcas are their huge, stunning dorsal fins, which are the most
recognizable trait of their physiology. Unfortunately, due to a small genetic factor and/or physical lesion, 1% of
wild orcas have this fin bent or “collapsed” to one side. Contrastingly, 100% of captive orcas grow to have this
characteristic, most commonly named “dorsal fin collapse”. Apart from those named above, there are various
factors that are believed contribute to this phenomena:
●
●
Forces: While free orcas spend their everyday swimming up to about 100 miles a day, with differing swimming patterns,
with their fin cutting through the water, captive orcas have their movement limited to the size of a pool and have a
routine of entertaining people with the same monotonous movements in the pool and standing out of it several times a
day. Some suggest that this causes the dorsal fin to have more pressure applied to one side than the other from
swimming in the same direction, causing in to bend to the side. Similarly, it is also believed that as captive orcas spend
a considerable proportion of the day peeking out of the weightless pool, gravity creates a drooling effect on the fin.
Dehydration: Dorsal fins are made of fibrous collagen which is mainly composed of water, several studies show that
lack of water causes collagen to become weak and brittle in humans. Wild orcas obtain their water from their live prey,
but most captive orcas are condemned to eat frozen fish every day, fish that through processing and freezing has lost
most of its water content.
Captivity on Orcas:
Dental Health
While wild orcas barely show any tooth wear from hunting prey, captive whale have damaged teeth from scratching
concrete walls or the steel gates from their enclosed area, due to boredom or to intimidate other animals near their
cage. When a tooth breaks the whale has to go through uncomfortable procedures every day in order to prevent
complication. Otherwise, this injured dentition leave the orca with exposed cavities that serve as an entrance for
pathogens to the bloodstream causing possible infections in several organs like the heart or kidney, causing
complicated medical conditions like heart disease
Captivity
Wild
Captivity on Orcas:
Infections
One of the most common causes of death of mammals
in captivity are bacterial infections like pneumonia and
septicemia.
Pneumonia: this bacteria involved disease is
often believed to be caused by lack of care, as
marine mammals need good air quality and high
rates of air exchange at the water surface,
factors that indoor facilities can´t possibly
replicate to be equal to the natural environment.
Immunosuppression might explain why captive orcas
are more predisposed to getting an infection.
Immunosuppression is a factor that contributes to
catching diseases explained as a failing of the immune
system to combat illnesses due to stress, depression or
boredom-
Captivity on Orcas:
Echolocation
Echolocation is a highly developed system in orcas that help
them recognize the size, shape, structure, speed and
direction of a certain object.
●
Their echolocation consists on the production of high
frequency clicks, their reception and interpretation
of the resulting echo.
●
The click passes through the melon the rounded
region the killer whale’s forehead, which consists of
lipids. The melon acts as an acoustical lens that
projects the sound.
●
The sound waves produced by a killer whale bounce
off objects in the water, like prey, and their echoes
return to the killer whale.
●
These are mainly received by cavities in their lower
jaw bones. They are then passed through the lower
jaw to the ear, and then to hearing responsible
centers in the brain.
Dr. Naomi Rose, explains that an orca can end up deaf
and dumb due to being restricted of space in a pool as its
way to locate through acoustics (echolocation) is affected
by the concrete. Sound waves instead of travelling
through great distances in the water, as they are supposed
to, they bounce off the walls and come back to the whale
without detection of any specific object.
Captivity on Orcas:
Psyche
One could argue that Orca instinct to be in the wild will never let it survive in a captive environment, this is shown in
their unusual aggression when kept in theme parks.
Captive orcas from different pods are forced to
live together, as this goes against their nature they tend
to become aggressive, biting and scratching each other
which has led to a never reported before event of
cannibalism between orcas. Similarly, as female orcas are
considered superior in the wild, when male orcas are
placed with one or several female others, these tend to
become hostile towards him or even physically violent.
Orcas are not only aggressive towards each other,
but captive orcas have had a history for violent towards
humans, people that sometimes have even been their
trainers for years. While there are no reported attacks of
wild orcas to humans that have resulted in any human
injury or death, there are four reported cases of four
different orcas in captivity that have killed their trainers
since the first captive whale in 1964. Likewise, out of
the 200 orcas held captive since then, more than 10% of
them have taken part in incidents that have threatened
the lives of people interacting with them.
References
Killer whales:
http://sanctuarysimon.org/monterey/sections/specialSpecies/killer_whale.php,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/killer-whale/
http://us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/fate-of-captive-orcas-in-2014
http://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-infobooks/killer-whale/communication-and-echolocation/
http://animals.pawnation.com/happens-orca-whales-captivity-6029.html
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/exotic_and_laboratory_animals/marine_mammals/bacterial_diseases_of_marine_mammals.ht
ml
http://dneiwert.blogspot.mx/2014/05/the-truth-about-truth-about-blackfish.html
Rose, N. A. 2011. Killer Controversy: Why Orcas Should No Longer Be Kept in Captivity HumaneSociety International
and The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C. 16 pp.
Effects on the ecosystem
The effects that captivity and Whaling has in
the marine ecosystem.
Firstly let me briefly outline the marine ecosystem,
specially the open ocean ecosystem that is where the
whales are found.
At the bottom of the pyramid of this ecosystem is
phytoplankton (algae) which are single cell plants which
rely on photosynthesis to obtain their food.
In the second base of the pyramid is where Krill, fish,
crabs and are found.
In the third base of the pyramid is where sea lions,
sharks and seals are located
Lastly at the top of the pyramid is where whales are
found. (Keep in mind that depending on the type of
whale, the diet varies)
The whales are the top predator, they stable the food
chain and avoid the over population of species. Whales
establish a specific correlation between the number of
predators and preys. If the whale population decreases
due to increase whaling or captivity then it will cause a
huge chain reaction on the marine ecosystem.
Effects on the ecosystem
Effects on the ecosystem:
Like I have mentioned before whales are a key factor of
the marine ecosystem. If whales were to become extinct
then there will be an overpopulation of sea lions this as
a consequence will result in a decrease in population of
small fish and krill. Which will led to a competition of
food between the organisms in the lower parts of the
pyramid. This will eventually destroy the ecosystem.
In addition the decrease in whale population will also
affect us, as this will result in a decrease of small fish,
which is a very big part of our diet.
The huge impact that the decrease of whales could have
on the ecosystem is supported by Joe Roman, he is a
conservation biologist at the University of Vermont and
he started that “The decline in great whale numbers
estimated to be at least 66% and perhaps as high as
90% has likely altered the structure and function of the
oceans.”
Whales
Sea lions &
Sharks
Small Fish & Krill
Phytoplankton (Algae)
Engineers and Gardeners of the
ocean
Whales are sometimes referred to as the “gardeners” or
“engineers” of the ocean. Due to the fact that they help
recycle Iron as well as nitrogen.
Whales recycle nutrients such as nitrogen and Iron
through their poo. The blue whale eats around 40 million
krill per day and an orca also eats sea lions and squids
which contain a large amount of Iron. Stephan Nicol of
the Australian Antarctic division based in Kingston
Tasmania stated that “An average of whale feces has 10
million times as much Iron as Antarctic seawater.” The
nutrients are ingested by the whale and then excreted.
All of these nutrients in the feces are then absorbed by
the phytoplankton and are used for growth. By the
phytoplankton production increasing, there is a higher
food source for other organisms.
Engineers and Gardeners of the ocean
According to Joe Roman’s investigation, “whales feed in
highly productive and high latitude areas and then they
migrate to low productivity, low latitude areas.”
Whales cannot excrete in the deep waters because they
are being pressed by the ocean’s weight. So while they
are hunting in deep waters they are only able to digest
and assimilate the nutrients never excrete. In order for
the whales to release its metabolic waste it was to rise
to the surface. Whale feces are liquid and light enough
to flout. When whales excrete their metabolic waste the
phytoplankton absorbs the nutrients in the feces that are
not usually present at the surface of the ocean.
Whales are an example of “pump” systems; they
transfer nutrients from deep waters to the surface of the
oceans through feces and urine. This is really useful
especially during summer as there is a lack of nutrients
on the ocean’s surface during this season.
Whales play a big role in the Carbon
cycle
Whales also have an effect in the carbon cycle. Phytoplankton absorbs carbon dioxide for respiration; therefore an
increase of phytoplankton will produce a decrease of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This means that it is reducing
global warming.
The Royal Society B states that Sperm whales in the southern ocean release 220,462 tons of carbon when they exhale
carbon dioxide, however the poo’s effect on the phytoplankton, makes the ocean absorb 440, 925 tons of carbon. It is
reported that 2 million tons of carbon were being removed annually by the ocean before whaling.
This clearly provides evidence of how important whales are to our environment, because they are providing a cleaner
and healthier environment for everyone to live on by removing high percentages of a greenhouse gas.
Whales play a big role in the Carbon
cycle
Secondly whales are a form of carbon storage.
When whales die they fall to the bottom of the
ocean and become a source of food and a home
for various marine species. It is reported by Joe
Roman that over 60 marine species are
dependent on these “whale falls” to survive.
From the evidence previously presented to us.
We can conclude that whales are vital in our
environment, and the decrease of whales due to
whaling or by placing them in captivity will affect
the marine ecosystem as well as the terrestrial
in the long term.
References
● www.whalefacts.org
● www.treehugger.com/ocean-conservation/whales-great-poop-pumpsocean.html
● www.whalingecosystems.weebly.com
● http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=18797
● www.marinemammal.org/research/killer-whale-research
● Add Joe Roman’s speech - Whales: The great poop pumps of the ocean
Penguins
S.M.KANG
What are the penguins and the issues?
Penguins, one of the iconic species of cold, southern oceans
and lands, have been captured and observed by humans for a
long time. Through TV and movies, we know to some extent
about normal and natural penguin behavior - the huge colonies
of huddled penguins on cold rocks near Antarctica, the
amazing, swift hunting movements of penguins through the
water, the custom of monogamous pairs caring for one
offspring. Most penguin species are quite numerous in
population, but there are 2 endangered varieties - the African
penguin and the Galapagos penguin. In studying penguins,
scientists have debated the same issues as with other wild
species brought into captivity, such as the problem this causes
and any changes in behavior due to captivity.
How their behaviors change.
In explaining reasons for behavior changes, we must consider what
changes have occurred in their living conditions and environment. By
far, the biggest change is that captive penguins are not forced to fight
for their survivals - humans take care of them and feed them. No
penguin colony living in a zoo or amusement park is threatened with
being wiped out or its population reduced sharply. Therefore
reproduction and the raising of offspring to maturity is no longer
principal task. For example, in a zoo where all the penguins are
protected, the population may increase to the point where further
mating and production
Actually, penguin populations increase more in captivity because they have guaranteed food
supplies and medical help. They are also protected from their natural predators and from
environmental disruption or habitat destruction. For example, an oil tanker or other ship might
dump oil or garbage in the ocean, but they are more protected in the captivity.
However, capturing and keeping penguins are against the law, and some scientists and
environmentalists are totally against holding penguins in zoos. The idea is not just to keep
animals alive but also to let them enjoy their natural life and activities. The question is how
much of a normal life can penguins have. They can have similar conditions and get similar food
as they do in the wild ocean, but they don’t have the same freedom to migrate and they don’t
have the same climatic conditions.
What are the impacts on penguins?
Humans try to simulate as much as possible the
natural conditions, but it is impossible (Sea World
cannot have -50°C. Furthermore, the manner of
feeding will be very different. In nature, penguin
spent most of their time hunting in the ocean for
fish or krill, but in captivity human simply throw
these foods to them at regular feeding hours. This
must make some impact on patterns of behavior.
One big problem with captivity is contagious
illnesses that can wipe out many penguins, from
either bacteria or parasites. Another difference is
that most of the offspring will survive in zoos due
to lack of predators and plenty of food, but in the
wild only 1 out of 3 survives.
What are the impacts on penguins?
One example of change behavior is gender
partnerships. People have observed closed
relationships between two males or two females in
captivity, but this has not been observed in the
natural environment.
This may be because there is less pressure on
these animals to maintain their young. In other
words, fathers and mothers do not have to follow
traditional roles for survival of the young and just
adapt to situation where the young will be cared for
by humans, and so reproduction becomes less
important
Another behavioral change that has been
observed is that captive penguins modify their
behavior to imitate new members introduced to
the local population. In the wild, the instinct is for
some penguins to migrate away from the colony
when population pressure becomes too great. In
a zoo, the colony survival is not threatened, so
penguins happily welcome new members.
References
http://www.penguins-world.com/penguins-incaptivity/
Sea Turtles
turtles: general information
Sea turtle can be also called marine
turtles, they are reptiles. They live in
almost every ocean. female sea turtles lay
eggs in tropical and subtropical
beaches.After sixty days baby turtles make
their way to the ocean. sea turtles live for
about 175-200 years.
There are seven different Species of
marine turtles in the world. six of this
seven species are endangered or
threatened by humans.
Different types of turtles
Effects of captive turtles
The benefits for turtles being captive is
really debatable this days.Many scientist
see this as the right choice to protect
them as an injured turtle will have more
chance to survive and find food in
captivity than in the wild. also by having
marine turtles in captivity they are able
to protect their eggs from predators
such as raccoons or seabirds and also
protect them from humans. in addition
to this having turtles in captivity also
helps them to increase the sea turtle
population which is danger.
Turtles: human threats
Coastal development is one of the reasons turtles are
threatened. this developments destroy their nests. also
the change of coastlines forces the female turtles to go to
other beaches to lay their eggs. normally sea turtles return
to the beaches where they were hatched to lay eggs.
pollution such as plastic bags kill thousands of marine
turtle as turtles mistaken food an ingest plastic bags which
blocks their intestines and kills them.toxic metals for
example may concentrate in their kidney or liver and
damage the turtles or kill them.
in addition to this in some countries turtles are hunted
down and killed for their shells and meat. Also people hunt
their eggs as some people consume them. the shells are
used for various object that we use in our everyday life
such as jewelry, sunglasses or instruments.
effects of captivity
On the other hand captivity has some
negative effects, some female turtles in
captivity get to chose if they mate with a
male turtle and will not mate for a long
time or deposit their eggs. also some
experiments show that turtles don't reach
full size when they are in captivity as the
are kept in really small areas. due to a
new environment turtles can develop
bacteria and infections that are formed in
their new environment and this can
weakened their immune system and
eventually kill them.
diseases
Infections on the dermis are really common on
captive sea turtles. the dermis are two layers of
tissue that make the skin.the symptoms are
ulceration, sores and discolouration of this two
layers. Some examples of the infections they can get
are, focal erosive dermatitis, papillary dermatitis or
bacterial ecephalitis.
Turtles in captivity in crowded conditions are more
vulnerable to mycotic infections as fungi can spread
out from turtle to turtle really quickly. the symptoms
are dermal which means superficially on the skin and
systemic which means infection of internal organs.
reference
http://www.seeturtles.org/sea-turtle-facts/
http://www.euroturtle.org/13a.htm
http://www.seaturtle-world.com/sea-turtlesin-captivity/
http://missmazurek15.pbworks.com/w/page/
38320134/Morgan
Conclusion
So what can be done to help these animals in that are kept captive or how
can one help avoid getting them there?
I.
Do not visit aquariums, zoos or circuses that use animals to entertain people
We, as mankind, have designated ourselves as superior over every other animal in the world because of our
outstanding ways to communicate, sense of self, social skills and advanced perception, but is that even true?
In this presentation we have shown how animals like the orca and dolphins in general have strong social
intelligence and remarkable ways to communicate across the ocean. Even if we are really superior to other
species in every way, why do we feel that we are entitled to have the right to take these animals away from
their lives, forcing them to abandon their habitat and social circles, and locking them in jails for our own
entertainment, or as Seaworld would define it “educational purposes”?
If one does not support these attitudes or actions, one should just avoid visiting these institutions, because if
they exist, is because there is a demand for them.
II. Spread the word
The reason why so many people plan to spend a fun family fun day in these facilities is because of their lack
of knowledge about how these animals get in there and what really happens in these “entertainment centres”
behind close doors. This is not their fault, institutions like SeaWorld mislead people by giving them false
information about their animals, for example, that all orcas have a collapsed fin, when in reality just captive
orcas do.
This calls for an urgent effort to educate people so that they know what really happens to animals and decide
whether they really want to put their money in this kind of activity.
Conclusion
III. Banning the take of marine mammals in international waters, and trying to apply the same
ban in every individual country.
Animals that are already in captivity, especially those that are captive-born, can not just be set free in the
wild from one day to the other because they would not be able to cope with the competition, hunting and
predators present, as they would be already accustomed to captive life, where these factors are non-existent.
So instead of protesting in front of aquariums to “Free the Whale” one can start by talking to the local
government, trying to get as much support from the people and go with petitions to the local government,
and slowly gaining more and more power to ban marine animal international take and stop these unacceptable
activities.
IV. Supporting organisations like CFHS, CAPS, Keep Whales Wild and No Whales in Captivity
All of these organisations aim to protect, conserve and give welfare to animals. By volunteering or donating
one can help research to expose and address the problems of captivity, educate and raise awareness of these
problems and support long-term legislative measures to help animals.
Reference for “Supporting organisations…”: http://www.captiveanimals.org/our-work