A CRUMBLING CASE FOR CETACEAN CAPTIVITY?

Web of Science yielded nine citations of which five were by the original author, JP Mortola
and only two referred to cetaceans.
6) Gerard D, Cohen E, Cunningham R, Fitzpatrick JE, Godsell C (1987) Natural antibodies to human
lymphocytes and erythrocytes in the serum of Orcinus orca killer whale. Developmental and
Comparative Immunology 11: 637-647.
Discussion
Blood samples were taken from one orca at ML (other cetacean sera used were provided by
SeaWorld of Orlando). Analysis showed that orca blood contains an antigen similar to a
naturally occurring human antibody. The authors claim that isolation of these antigens from
orca blood may help to identify specific receptors on blood cells in humans.
Web of Science and Scopus yielded no citations.
The literature search and citation analyses for both VA and ML lead to several conclusions. The
research output using captive cetaceans as study subjects at both facilities could be characterized as
not substantive. Over the past 30 years at the VA, there have been only 13 peer-reviewed scientific
papers, and over the past 10 years at ML, only six. (There have been a number of additional research
papers on captive non-cetacean species, primarily pinnipeds, at VA.)
Vancouver Aquarium
A number of studies of cetaceans supported by the VA are field studies conducted with wild cetaceans.
Studies on captive cetaceans are in the minority. This point strongly suggests that captivity is not
necessary for most of the research on cetaceans (and other marine mammals viii ) done by VA.
In addition, citations for four of the original papers are on captive animal welfare and do not
necessarily have any relation to conservation or protection of cetaceans in the wild.
Most of the original papers done on captive cetaceans at VA are not widely cited and therefore seem
likely to have little impact. The exception is the work by Christine Erbe and her team on hearing
threshold in belugas. Her papers are more widely cited than any of the others, include citations by
authors of studies on wild cetaceans, and clearly have more of a potential impact on conservation than
the other papers. Given the important role of anthropogenic noise in the welfare of wild cetaceans, her
work appears to have important applications. With that said, it is not entirely clear how much of the
applied research on noise and hearing in wild cetaceans was made possible by the captive research.
MarineLand
The papers in which captive cetaceans are the study subjects at ML have been cited only a minimal
number of times by independent authors. Three of the papers have not been cited at all. A closer look
at Mortola & Limonges (2006) reveals that, of the nine citations, five were by the original author, i.e.
not independent citations, and only two focused on cetaceans.
A Crumbling Case for Cetacean Captivity? 10