Special Issue Survey of Cetaceans in Captive Care

298 CouquiaudThe Cetacean Species Information Table providesinformation on all species that have beenkept in captivity in the past or are presently displayed,as well as all species listed as vulnerable,endangered, or critically endangered by theInternational Union for Conservation of Natureand Natural Resources (IUCN), also known as theWorld Conservation Union (Anonymous, 2004).Because the habitat of such species is irreversiblybeing destroyed, it might prove necessary inthe near future to attempt to breed these speciesin captivity to ensure their survival (Klinowska,1991; Ridgway, 1995). It does not take intoaccount all species briefly kept for rehabilitationfrom strandings. At the time of writing, 18 speciesof odontocetes are kept in human care on apermanent basis (vs. short-term rehabilitation).The table is listed in alphabetic order by scientificnames, with an asterisk indicating those speciescurrently kept in human care.Information on each species is presented asfollows:Scientific name – English common name-*=kept in captivity at present • IUCN status •geographical distribution • habitat range • mostfrequent group size; rarer group size • behaviourin the wild; associations with other species in thewild • behaviour in captivity • success rate in captivity;breeding.The MAL for males and females and the maximumknown adult body weight or MaximumAdult Weight (MAW) for male and female isalso displayed in the table. It can be noted thatthe MAW does not necessarily correspond to theMAL, as sometimes the weight of the largestmeasured animals has not been recorded. MAW isjust indicative.Finally, this table displays water temperaturerange in the wild as an indication of what the watertemperature range should be in a controlled environment.It is important to know the initial place ofcapture, stranding, or previous housing to respectthe animal’s original environment temperature.For example, a bottlenose dolphin coming fromnorthern Japan and one coming from the Gulf ofMexico might not be comfortable with the samewater temperature at first. Therefore, facilitiesare advised to obtain information on water temperatureaverages at the place of origin in orderto adjust the temperature range in the controlledenvironment.Data have been compiled from literature onboth wild and captive animal studies, mainlyextracted from Klinowska (1991), the referenceseries Handbook of Marine Mammals by Ridgway& Harrison (1989, 1994, 1999), the IUCN RedList (Anonymous, 2004), and the survey. Otherreferences are made to Defran & Pryor (1980),Leatherwood & Reeves (1983), Jefferson et al.(1993), Ridgway (1995), and the Marine MammalInventory Report (Anonymous, 1997). I suggestreaders consult the Aquatic Mammals and MarineMammal Science journals, among others, for regularupdates on species distribution and populationdynamics and for new anatomical, physiological,and behavioural findings. The website of theConvention of Migratory Species (CMS) providesa good online review of small cetacean species andis regularly updated (Culik, 2003).