There is a reason why the killer whales who perform at Sea World are given the stage name “Shamu.” It’s a trick used to keep patrons from realizing when one whale dies and is replaced in the show by another. Killer whales die quite often at Sea World. And sometimes people die, too. These passings are the subject of David Kirby’s “Death at Sea World: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity.”
Killer whales are neither killers nor whales. Orcinus orca is a member of the delphinidae family, a dolphin. Through all of recorded history—the first account of orcas comes from Pliny the Elder, circa 77 A.D.—they have presented little threat to humans. In fact, as marine biologist Naomi Rose explains to Mr. Kirby, “no killer whale has ever been reported to have killed a human in the wild, or even seriously injured a human in the wild, and no killer whale has ever been known to be killed in a fight with another whale. All three of those things have happened in captivity.”
-
mrholise likes this
-
discover-cetaceans reblogged this from oceanaware
-
houseoforange likes this
-
battered-sausage reblogged this from oceanaware
-
oceanaware reblogged this from mrholise
-
dazzlefly reblogged this from mrholise and added:
I haven’t been to Sea World since I was 18. It is practically in my backyard but I just can’t afford to buy tickets and...
-
mrholise posted this
