Why Do Cetaceans Live In Captivity
Do Cetaceans live superior lives in captivity as opposed to in the wild?
Intro
Captivity is the process of keeping animals in human care. An unsustainable industry, there is severe imbalance between the number of cetaceans born in captivity and the number which die in captivity.
The majority of the thousands of cetaceans in captivity are captured from the wild to supply the increasing number of aquaria throughout the world in what has become a market for their freedom.
[1]
Cetaceans are born into captivity through an opportunistic breeding process, without artificial selection for desirable phenotypic qualities, [2] a prerequisite for the conscious process of domestication.[3] All cetaceans in captivity are ‘wild’ by nature, adapted through …show more content…
The composition of ocean water fluctuates continually as a result of its biotic and abiotic influences, whereas the closed system present in aquarium tanks is controlled to within a very narrow range.
In cetacean captivity, the tank ecosystem cannot sustain itself. There is an absence of foreign life, through a lack of producers and consumers and the filtration mechanism, both of which prevent a bionetwork from establishing itself. Without phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, further trophic levels of biota are unable to exist. There are no natural cycles of minerals and ions, nor of biomass, and therefore it is the responsibility of the aquarium to maintain these constituent levels at the equilibrium cetaceans require.
The water which is cycled through inland aquarium systems is predominantly obtained from the mains water supply. To provide the appropriate conditions for cetaceans in a fixed area, artificial methods of purification must be implemented. Water is purified via reverse-osmosis, and treated with conditioner to dechlorinate and detoxify harmful metals. In the majority of circumstances, saltwater is not collected directly from natural bodies, meaning that sodium chloride must be added in the appropriate volume to provide a hospitable environment in which cetaceans can be …show more content…
While predicting the effects of climate change for cetaceans that little is known about is a challenge, according to Learmonth et al. (2006) [4], climate change induced impacts are likely to decrease the range of all cetacean species for which the IUCN has data. Some of these impacts are direct, for example the habitat movement of cetacean species to maintain optimum temperature, or the melting of ice sheet habitat used to avoid predation. Others are more indirect, like the expected change in the availability of prey for cetaceans dependant on its oceanographic distribution, or the increase in susceptibility of disease. Due to the inability of humans to alleviate the problems which may arise from climate change, it will eventually have serious consequences for the survival of marine mammals. With cetaceans, particularly in the polar regions, unable to adapt to the constantly evolving oceans at the same rate, the provision of a stable environment, such as in an aquarium, may ultimately be a superior way of ensuring the species
Intro
Captivity is the process of keeping animals in human care. An unsustainable industry, there is severe imbalance between the number of cetaceans born in captivity and the number which die in captivity.
The majority of the thousands of cetaceans in captivity are captured from the wild to supply the increasing number of aquaria throughout the world in what has become a market for their freedom.
[1]
Cetaceans are born into captivity through an opportunistic breeding process, without artificial selection for desirable phenotypic qualities, [2] a prerequisite for the conscious process of domestication.[3] All cetaceans in captivity are ‘wild’ by nature, adapted through …show more content…
The composition of ocean water fluctuates continually as a result of its biotic and abiotic influences, whereas the closed system present in aquarium tanks is controlled to within a very narrow range.
In cetacean captivity, the tank ecosystem cannot sustain itself. There is an absence of foreign life, through a lack of producers and consumers and the filtration mechanism, both of which prevent a bionetwork from establishing itself. Without phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, further trophic levels of biota are unable to exist. There are no natural cycles of minerals and ions, nor of biomass, and therefore it is the responsibility of the aquarium to maintain these constituent levels at the equilibrium cetaceans require.
The water which is cycled through inland aquarium systems is predominantly obtained from the mains water supply. To provide the appropriate conditions for cetaceans in a fixed area, artificial methods of purification must be implemented. Water is purified via reverse-osmosis, and treated with conditioner to dechlorinate and detoxify harmful metals. In the majority of circumstances, saltwater is not collected directly from natural bodies, meaning that sodium chloride must be added in the appropriate volume to provide a hospitable environment in which cetaceans can be …show more content…
While predicting the effects of climate change for cetaceans that little is known about is a challenge, according to Learmonth et al. (2006) [4], climate change induced impacts are likely to decrease the range of all cetacean species for which the IUCN has data. Some of these impacts are direct, for example the habitat movement of cetacean species to maintain optimum temperature, or the melting of ice sheet habitat used to avoid predation. Others are more indirect, like the expected change in the availability of prey for cetaceans dependant on its oceanographic distribution, or the increase in susceptibility of disease. Due to the inability of humans to alleviate the problems which may arise from climate change, it will eventually have serious consequences for the survival of marine mammals. With cetaceans, particularly in the polar regions, unable to adapt to the constantly evolving oceans at the same rate, the provision of a stable environment, such as in an aquarium, may ultimately be a superior way of ensuring the species