Orcas in Captivity: Cognition and Behavior - Research Paper Example

? Orcas in Captivity: Cognition and Behavior Introduction Orca is the noun which has properly been assigned to killer whales. Orcas are being kept in captivity for more than half century, only for blatantly commercial experimentations. There are numerous orcas which have been separated from their families and natural environment and these plucked orcas are being forced to survive in artificially designed habitat. These artificial environments for orcas are comprised of social grouping and captive orcas are being forced to adapt in such social groupings which does not comprehend any conformity to the natural habitat and setting of orcas. This fact is seemingly unknown to the common people who, collectively, spend a significant amount of money each year to witness the show which trained orcas are forced to present. These common people are being motivated and fascinated by extravagant commitments of the display industry which has promoted the commercial captivity of orcas in artificial environments (Eaton 447-450). The major argument which the display industry proposes to justify the captivity of orcas in artificial environments for commercial purpose is that the artificial environment is secured and controlled in which the vulnerability of orcas is being reduced if compared to the natural environment. However, several experiences and studies have explored that the artificial settings for orcas and the forceful trainings, which the display industry do to captive orcas, have no resemblance with the nature of orcas (Greenwood and Taylor 10-12). Regarding this significant issue of captive orcas, this paper is aimed to describe the impact of commercial captivity on the cognitive development of orcas and impacts on its behaviors. In addition, this paper will also present the explication of natural cognition and behavior of orca in the natural setting in contrast with the artificial environment. Lastly, it will also describe the commercial captivity of orcas and reasons for its monetary success in an explicatory manner. Description of Orca Orcas are one of those sea creatures which cannot be easily found while exploring the wild to witness or acquire the understanding about its behavior and life. Although it has been known that orcas are present in every ocean of tis world; however, its biological, behavioral and cognitive knowledge has not appropriately been acquired by humans. There are two major reasons for this in which the first reason is that orcas live and spend a large amount of time in the deep water. The second and more significant reason for limited knowledge regarding the lives of orcas is that these sea creatures are being considered as, and orcas factually are, brutal attackers and ruthless predators. This reputation of orcas as the bloodthirsty and life threatening creatures has contributed substantially for the limitedness in the acquisition of details about the lives of orcas in wild (Whitehead and Glass 183-185). As the little details which have been associated with the description of orcas has been described, several high ranking marine professionals have proposed orcas as the destroyer which destructs everything it witnesses in its living zone. Moreover, orcas have also been pronounced as the killer for which US Navy manual directs individuals and officers to kill the killer on sight before it actualize and delivers its ruthless and life taking behavior (Nolan, Liddle and Elliot 659-662). However, the whole fascination and fear regarding orcas have been congealed in the decade preceding 1970’s when the first orca was being kept in captivity for commercial purposes. This captivity of orcas motivated governmental agencies of several countries to utilize the assistance of well recognized biologists to explore the life details about orcas. Biologists acquired the appropriate utility of advanced technologies like, fingerprinting techniques, not only to get the accurate population of orcas, but also to learn significant details about orcas and their behaviors (Ford, Ellis and Barrett-Lennard 1456-1459). After conducting several significant researches regarding the details about orcas, researchers have identified that orcas are being found to be divided into three distinct forms. These three forms are being distinguished in many substantial aspects including its appearances, behaviors, social organizations, diets and dialects. These three forms of orcas are being named as residents, transients, and offshores. Residents are found to be living in the form of stable social groupings, ranging from 10 to 20 orcas in a single group, in which those groups are immensely less interactive. On the other hand, transients are found to be more acquire occupancies in the form of its home range. These orcas travel in a smaller groups ranging from 1 to 5 orcas in a single group. Transients are also being found to be more expressive than residents and transients are capable of staying underwater for longer periods along with deeper dives underwater. The last form has been found to be more social than other two types because these orcas have been found to travel in groups of 30 to 60. All of these orcas are significantly distinct in genetic, behavioral and biological aspects (Pitman and Ensor 131-140). Researchers have explored this description about the historically mysterious orcas, which does not resemble the artificial environment in which captive orcas have been forced to survive. This will be explicated in the next heading in a more explicated and described manner. Although the behavioristic and social aspects of orcas have been disclosed through several researches, including the forms and distinctions in those forms; researchers have also been exploring ways in which the intelligence of orcas could be measured. The intelligence measurement techniques which are being acquired for testing human intelligence cannot be appropriately applied for testing the intelligence of orcas. Due to this reason, the intelligence of orcas and the answer of the question, i.e. whether orcas are intelligent or not, could not be certainly and analytically answered (Eaton 447-448). Researchers, then, evaluated few criteria by which the intelligence of orcas could be measured. These criteria were based on physiological indicators including the volume of the brain and convolutions of the brain. Researchers have found that the size of the brain of an average orca is significantly large which can weigh up to six kilograms. However, the size of the brain is not being considered as a valid criterion for the intelligence measurement. For this, the researchers have deeply analyzed the complicated elements of the brain from where the brain convolutions are mainly controlled. After conducting the analysis of orcas’ brains, researchers have explored that the cerebral hemispheres of orcas are significantly well developed and the cerebral cortex in the brains of orcas are immensely convoluted. Cerebral hemisphere is the substantial part of the human brain, which is considered as it deals with advanced and complex mental processes. For this reason, the researchers analyzed cerebral hemisphere of orcas to test its intelligence, which has led towards knowing that orcas are significantly intelligence species with high cognitive capabilities (Pitman and Ensor 132-139). As the natural description of orcas regarding its behavior and cognitive level has been described, the next heading will precisely describe the artificial environment for captive orcas, as it has been mentioned in the end of the previous paragraph. Commercial Captivity On one hand, where the researchers have been exploring the informative details about the fascinating sea creatures, orcas, while on the other hand, the display industry began to continue the captivity of wild orcas for commercial purposes. The captivity began to be increased by the time since 1961, in which the most influential and interest developing factor was the success of orca display shows. The captive orcas were being kept in an artificial environment in which these orcas are being forced to be socialized with other captive orcas. Orcas are not very social to other forms or families of its own kind, but the artificial environment has been designed in a manner in which captive orcas are being forced to become socialized with distinct captive orcas (Luck and Jiang 128-132). There is another important factor which does not conform to the natural environment in which orcas live. The water tanks in which the captive orcas are being kept are highly chlorinated and artificially salted. The reason for this is to make sure that the captive orcas do not feel any difficulty to survive for a longer period. Despite this, captive orcas are being found less healthy than those orcas that live in the natural wild environment (Luck and Jiang 129-135). The commercial captivity of orcas is being increased because of two major factors. The first factor is the historic fascination and mysterious attraction towards these sea creatures which becomes satisfied while watching a killer whale performing several taught actions to entertain thousands of visitors. The second and more substantial factor is the profitability for the display industry. The captive orcas who are being trained to perform entertaining acts cause a significant amount of profit for the display industry by which the commercial captivity of these sea creatures have been rising since 1961 (Luck and Jiang 133-136). The artificial setting of captive orcas does not conform to the natural environment, but the display industry proposes that this artificial setting does not only helps orcas to develop their level of cognition, but it also helps these orca to live in a more secure, controlled and healthier environment than the natural, i.e. wild, environment in oceans (Pitman and Ensor 134-136). The commercial captivity of orcas occurs for the sake of entertainment of visitors who come to witness the performances of trained killer whales. For this reason, the captive orcas are initially forced to adapt the artificial environment followed by their training by several professional and expert individuals who tend to train those captive orcas to perform several determined acts. This training of orcas to socialize and perform several acts in the public domain is what the display industry proposes to be the cognitive development of captive orcas (Luck and Jiang 132-136). However, there are several critical aspects to this cognitive development which will be explicated in the next heading. Impacts of Captivity on the Cognitive Development There are several distinct impacts which orcas under captivity have in terms of cognitive development and sophistication of cognition. The captive orcas are, initially, being kept on the harbor from where its transportation to the desired park is scheduled. In this initial phase, orcas have been found to be interacting with its pod members. This action of orcas illuminates the sophistication of cognition which orcas possess in a natural setting. However, the orcas under captivity have found to be more adaptive on the basis of its cognitive development. The captive orcas adapt to the artificial environment in a steady manner; however, the captive orcas first realize its limitations and determined actions after which it tends to be adaptive. After being adapted by the artificial environment, the captive orcas develop a bond between other distinct orcas which are being kept in on a single place. This socialization of captive orcas is highly violent in the initial phase by which there are many orcas that have been died. However, the adaptability of orcas helps them to learn about the essentials to survive in the artificial environment (Abramson, Hernandez-Lloreda and Call 12-17). The capability of orcas to adapt in the artificial environment is the result of forceful imposition on captive orcas to act in accordance with what has been determined for those orcas. However, the major impact of captivity on the cognitive development of orcas can be seen in the performing orcas which acts completely in concordance with the trainer’s instructions and whatever have been taught to them during practice sessions (Eaton 447-448). In the orca shows by display industry, the mesmerizing element is not to see orca, but to see orca to perform entertaining acts which does not commonly have any associations with the natural life of orcas. The performance of captive orcas significantly illuminates the cognitive development in, comparably, a more human friendly manner than wild orcas. Captive orcas adapt to live in discordance with their natural environment and life in which their cognitive excellence and development plays the crucial role. However, this cognitive development is pertained to have a significantly negative impact upon the behavior of captive orcas and its health, which will be described in the next heading (Luck and Jiang 134-137). Impacts of Captivity on the Behavior The cognitive development of captive orcas is significantly more impressive than the studies of wild orcas explicates. However, the cognitive development of captive orcas is largely attributed to forceful imprisonment which constraints orcas to adapt the determined, controlled and artificial environment. These forceful impositions on captive orcas have an immense and grave impact on the behavior of these orcas. The foremost impact on behavior can be seen in the socialization of orcas with other captive orcas. A captive orca often behaves in a violent and psychotic manner with other orcas, which significantly harms the health and body of them (Greenwood and Taylor 10-12). As it has been mentioned in the previous sections that orcas do not commonly interact with other forms or families of orcas which shows the reserved and antisocial to other species of killer whales nature of wild orcas, the captive orcas initially resist to pertain its wild nature in the artificial environment by which its health and the health of other orcas becomes vulnerable to physical threats. This impact of captivity in the behavior of orcas has resulted into deaths of many killer whales (Nakahara and Takemura 140-143). In addition to this violent behavior of captive orcas with other captives, a common behavior which has been experienced is that captive orcas refuse to eat in the artificial environment due to resistance. This reluctance to eat causes severe health problems to captive orcas which disconfirm the argument of the display industry about providing orcas with a secure and safer environment where orcas can survive in a more sufficient manner. The captive orcas are being to behave in an immensely resisting manner to the artificial environment despite their cognitive development (Pryor, Pryor and Norris 455-457). This can be illuminated with another behavioral impact of captivity of orcas that the trainers, which are being hired for the training of captive killer whales, experience ruthless, hatred and disliked behavior of captive orcas towards trainers. This is mainly because of two reasons; the first reason is that the training which has been provided to the captive orcas does not contain any conformity to the natural behavior and actions of these species. The second important reason is that the artificial environment in which these orcas are being forcefully imprisoned has low similarities with their natural habitat which cause the resisting, violent and psychotic behavior of captive orcas. Due to this reason, the health and life of orcas becomes significantly under threat, which is a substantial issue to consider by the authorities and responsible persons (Nakahara and Takemura 135-141). Conclusion The commercial captivity of orcas has a significant impact on the cognitive development and the behavior of orcas. The major reason for this is that the artificial environment for captive orcas does not resemble the natural habitat of these sea creatures. Commercial captivity of orcas is based on the argument that the artificial environment is a secure and safer habitat for these species in comparison with the natural habitat. However, the factual experiences do not support this argument as the captive orcas behave in a violent and psychotic manner due to resistance against the artificial environment in which these creatures have been forced to survive. The commercial captivity significantly helps in cognitive development, but in a forceful and constrained manner. Works Cited Abramson, Jose Z., et al. "Experimental evidence for action imitation in killer whales (Orcinus orca)." Animal cognition (2013): 11-22. Print. Eaton, Randall L. "Orcas and dolphins in captivity." The animal ethics reader (2003): 447-451. Print. Ford, John KB, et al. "Dietary specialization in two sympatric populations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in coastal British Columbia and adjacent waters." Canadian Journal of Zoology (1998): 1456-1471. Print. Greenwood, A. G. and D. C. Taylor. "Captive killer whales in Europe." Aquatic Mammals (1985): 10-12. Print. Luck, Michael and Yixing Jiang. 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