whales

Quarantine: The Life of a Captive Orca

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Our Self-Quarantine/ Social Distancing is NOTHING Compared to the Way Captive Orcas Live

Written by Emily Ram, Edited by Victoria Licona

Whale, welcome back Ocean Olympians!  Continuing off of our blog post, Save the Whales, from earlier this week, today we’re drawing your attention to orcas in captivity.  If you think your going stir crazy in the limited space your house offers during self-quarantine, being a captive whale is basically the same thing but 300x worse.  Lets keep plastic out of our oceans, and keep orcas in them.

10 Reasons Why Whales and Dolphins Do NOT Belong in Tanks - One ...

How would you feel if you lived in a small space, forced to entertain? There are so many things wrong with whale captivity.  At the end of 2019, it was recorded that there are “59 orcas in captivity at sea parks and aquariums throughout the world.”  Of the 59 orcas living captive lives, a third are captive in the U.S.  Seaworld enslaves all but one of the U.S.’s third of the world’s captive whales.  The one whale not living at a U.S. Seaworld is Lolita; She lives a sad, isolated, depressing life in a tiny pool at the Miami Seaquarium. Here are some reasons the ocean is the only place orcas should be living in:

  1. Orcas swim about 40 miles daily in the wild and it is not just because they can, but because they need to, to forage for their varied diets and to exercise.
    • HOW ARE CAPTIVE WHALES SUPPOSED TO SWIM 40 MILES+ A DAY IN CAPTIVITY IF THEY ARE LIVING IN TAKES THEY CAN BARELY EVEN OR CAN’T EVEN TURN THEIR BODIES IN?!
  2. Several times a day, every day, orcas dive 100 to 500 feet.
  3. 70% of captive whales have some sort of damage to their teeth and a quarter of the U.S’s captive whales have severe damage to their teeth.
  4. Orcas aren’t dumb; They have the second largest brain of any animal on the planet.
  5.  Orcas have familial structures similar to the ones we humans have.
    • Orcas in the wild live in pods and research has shown that they share a sophisticated, unique culture that is passed down through generations.
  6. Just like humans speak different languages, so do whales.
    • In captivity, whales are brought in from different pods.  Pods do not speak the same languages so these captive whales are forced to live a life without the ability to understand their surrounding peers.

3 Things Orcas at SeaWorld Never Get to Experience - One Green ...

It’s heartbreaking to continue to discuss the issues that captive whales face but IMPORTANT THAT WE ARE AWARE.  We focused on some lighter realities for whales in captivity in the short list above but highly recommend watching the following films to learn more:

    • Blackfish (Netflix or Amazon Prime)

    • Lolita: Slave to Entertainment (Amazon Prime)

    • The Whale (Amazon Prime or iTunes)

 

Save the Whales

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Written by Sofia Avila, Edited by Skylar Griffin 

 

Whale basics:

You’ve probably heard of blue whales, sperm whales, orcas etc, but did you know that whales are divided into two distinct categories. These categories are toothed and untoothed whales. Toothed whales are hunters, able to consume squid, seals and fish. Untoothed whales, also called baleen whales, strain their food through fringed plates that are useful for eating smaller food, such as krill. With the exception of orcas, whales are also very social creatures that travel in family units, and have the ability to self recognize, which is a sign of high intelligence. All in all, whales are extremely interesting animals that are loving and sweet tempered. If this is the case, why are there organizations calling for their protection?

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/whales-us

 

Are whales threatened?

According to Save the Whales, an organization aimed at protecting oceans and all their inhabitants, whales face dangers that were outlawed years ago. Whaling, a practice where whales are hunted for their blubber, oil and meat, was banned in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) when several species came close to becoming extinct. However, countries like Iceland, Norway and Japan are notorious for continuing their whaling practices, directly violating the IWC law. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, approximately 1,500 whales are killed each year at Japan, Iceland and Norway’s hands alone. In addition to being hunted, whales face threats of habitat loss due to ocean pollution, loss of food sources, climate change, plastic ingestion and net entanglement. Whaling is not the only threat these creatures deal with. 

 

Why are whales important to the oceans?

Whales are an essential part of the ocean ecosystem. One of their main jobs in the ocean is to regulate the food chain, which keeps certain creatures from overpopulating the ocean. For example, a blue whale can consume about 40 million krill each DAY, which just goes to show that without whales, there would be a disruption to the ocean’s food chain. Another reason why whales are important to the oceans is through something a little weirder…their poop actually helps pull carbon dioxide from the environment. By defecating, whales bring essential nutrients to the surface of the water, where phytoplankton grow, and phytoplankton form the foundation of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton also breathe in carbon dioxide from the outside atmosphere to help them grow their body structures, and when they are consumed, they take this carbon dioxide with them, ultimately eliminating it from the environment. It seems incredibly strange that whale poop ultimately helps save the environment, but several studies have been conducted that prove how beneficial it is. 

https://www.livelimitless.net/when-whales-humans-unite/

Whales are such an essential part of the ocean’s ecosystem, as well as to our everyday environment. They are tender hearted creatures, and there are several ways to help protect them. If you are interested, here is a list of 40 different ways you can help save whales, with some fun ones being adopting a whale, and some other ones you can start at home, like reducing consumption of single use plastics and plastic bags. The fate of these creatures lie in your hands!