A Review of the Scientific Justifications for Maintaining

0,67

MB

Cetaceans in Captivity.

45

stron

4853

ID

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

1999

rok

CONTENTS

Summary 2

1. Introduction 5

2. Haematology and Blood Chemistry. 6

Haematology 6

Blood chemistry . 8

The effects of stress on haematology and blood chemistry 10

Conclusions 11

3. Disease 12

Infectious diseases 12

Parasitic disease . 13

Other diseases. 13

Epizootics in wild populations 13

Conclusions 14

4. Physiology. 14

Swimming and diving . 14

Energetics and nutrition 15

Conclusions 16

5. Experimental Psychology and Cognition. 16

Hearing and the processing of auditory information. 16

Echolocation. 17

Vision . 18

Communication 18

Consciousness 19

Conclusions 20

6. Behaviour 20

Social structure. 21

Activity patterns . 21

Conclusions 22

7. Reproduction and Captive Breeding 22

Survival in Captivity . 23

Breeding in Captivity 24

Conclusions - Captive Breeding as a Conservation Tool? 25

Self sustaining populations . 26

Preserving endangered species 27

Learning from other species 28

Conclusions 28

8. Environmental Protection. 29

Oil Pollution . 29

Entanglement in Fishing Gear. 30

Conclusions 31

9. Discussion and Conclusions. 31

Physical conditions of captivity 32

What population does the captive population represent? 32

Availability of data on wild populations. 33

Useful knowledge?. 34

Limited scientific justification for captive whale and dolphin research . 34

10. References . 35