Time for another blog. Fifty years ago, SeaWorld started regularly keeping orcas in captivity. Within a few short years, its staff must have noticed that the dorsal fins of all of their males and some of their females would collapse as they grew. If this had been any other wildlife species in a legitimate zoological institution, researchers almost certainly would have started examining the phenomenon. They would have eventually published in scientific journals a series of papers that described and discussed the “who, what, and why” of the collapse. They would have sought to rule out definitively (if they could) that it had any significant impact on the animals’ health. Had SeaWorld (or any other captive facility holding orcas back then, such as the Vancouver Aquarium, the Miami Seaquarium, Marineland Antibes…any of them) done this, today we wouldn’t have to speculate, using reasonable deduction and logic, that the dorsal fin of captive orcas collapses because the whales spend an inordinate and unnatural amount of time at the surface. This allows gravity to act on the fin as it grows, collapsing it right over the back in the case of males once the height-to-base ratio of the fin reaches a certain point. We also wouldn’t have to wonder if it has any direct impact on their health. We would KNOW. But we don’t. There are no papers published in any journal of which I am aware on dorsal fin collapse and whether or not it has impacts on orca health. No one has conducted research to answer these questions: What specifically happens to the connective tissue in the fin that leads to collapse? When does the fin start to collapse (what’s the critical height-to-base ratio)? What, if any, other physiological changes occur as a result of collapse? IS there any related impact on the overall health of the animal? SeaWorld says no, but in fact there is no research supporting this claim – it’s just wishful thinking or, to be less charitable, cynical PR messaging. SeaWorld’s failure to study a gross anatomical change/deformation that would have driven zoo researchers to determine the extent and impact of the problem in any other captive wildlife species is the most obvious sign that SeaWorld is NOT a research institution. In fact, I have now encountered two senior SeaWorld veterinarians who have publicly asserted that the dorsal fin is made from cartilage and connective tissue. This astounding ignorance in people who should intimately and thoroughly know every detail of the anatomy of the animals in their care was what really drove me to write this. (Every first-year marine mammal student learns that there is no bone or cartilage in the cetacean dorsal fin, only connective tissue. Apparently dorsal fins are such a taboo topic around the SeaWorld water cooler that even senior veterinarians who’ve worked there for most if not all of their professional careers don’t know what’s inside these appendages.) Instead of conducting research years ago on an obvious impact of captivity – to determine if it was benign or something that should be addressed, through supplements, physical therapy, or other means, for the sake of the orcas’ welfare – SeaWorld first ignored it, then discounted it as an issue of concern, and finally LIED to the public about it in an effort to suggest that the collapse is perfectly normal for orcas. Staff have lied to visitors about the prevalence of this phenomenon in the wild (misrepresenting research by Dr. Ingrid Visser to claim it is a common rather than a very rare occurrence) and its cause (firmly denying it had anything to do with captivity). SeaWorld describes itself as a research institution. Yet it has not only NOT conducted research on a phenomenon that simply cries out for it – it has lied about the facts scientists do know. That’s about as anti-science as it gets.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:25:14 +0000
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