Dolphins in Captivity vs. Dolphins in the Wild

Dolphins have long been a creature of great fascination for many humans around the globe and throughout time. They were once completely wild and are now reduced by the hundreds, if not thousands, each year from various events that occur. These events range from being caught for research and used in an aquarium for human entertainment to being trapped and killed for their market value. Any of these occurrences come down to making money. Some of the similarities and differences associated with the two primary living environments known for dolphins, wild and captive, will be explored.

As mentioned above, dolphins are mammals, meaning they are warm-blooded animals and breathe oxygen. The Scholastic web site says that “Dolphins, like you and me, are mammals. They have teeth, are warm-blooded, have a four-chambered heart, and nurse their young from mammary glands. Dolphins also have hair, but not very much!” Additionally, they have eyes, a mouth, and live in families with a complex social structure. Unlike humans, they have no sense of smell. (Scholastic.) Many people may also wonder if dolphins sleep or not. They do, in fact, but not how most people may imagine. Dolphins have the ability to shut down one half of their brain to sleep while the other half of their brain keeps them slowly moving and surfacing for air. Once the first half is rested, they switch and the second half of their brain goes to sleep, as it were, and the first half is on duty. (MIT Sea Grant.) If the dolphin didn’t have this ability, it would surely drown with no oxygen to sustain it. This is but one of many fascinating characteristics of dolphins.

Dolphins are curious, friendly, and protective of their “pod” or family. They are also lively, ...

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...cribe those things that are not obvious to the general population. There is one very distinct benefit for a dolphin living in captivity, that being medical care. However, much of the injury and illness a captive dolphin experiences is related to being distressed and unhappy from being captive. Most dolphins in captivity don’t have the opportunity to swim or live in the wide expanse of the ocean, do not get to live with their own family or experience living in a pod with its dynamic structure, do not learn to fend for themselves or survive on their own, and don’t get to develop their echolocation abilities or stimulate their intelligence to near the extent as their wild species members. Those that are born free only know that environment, and are none the wiser, until captured and put into a tank at a research laboratory or an aquarium for entertainment purposes.