Our four dolphins - Liko, Kai, Schooner, and Shadow - like all of our animals, are well-loved and well-cared for by highly-trained Animal Care experts.
Our dolphins are ambassadors for their species, inspiring thousands of our guests each year to care for and protect these incredible marine mammals. All of our animals – including our dolphins – are given the very best possible diet, habitat, medical care, and husbandry which meet or exceed the high standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Read more below on how we provide wellness for our dolphin, while contributing to dolphin conservation and research around the world!
Education & Awareness
By seeing dolphins up close while they are on exhibit and during daily DOLPHINS! presentations or behind-the-scenes tours like “Discover Dolphins,” our guests have an opportunity to observe and connect with the amazing marine mammals.
These educational experiences have been proven to foster conservation-friendly attitudes, inspire action and increase science learning in visitors through animal observations and interactions. Many animals like dolphins are difficult to observe in the wild, but their health and protection may rely on conservation choices of people who live nowhere near them. Viewing and participation in cetacean presentations are proven to increase conservation-related knowledge, attitudes and intentional behaviors in visitors.1
Enrichment, Training & Husbandry
Dolphin Bay staff enhance the daily welfare of our dolphins through opportunities for positive activities focused on physical and mental health.
Through daily DOLPHINS! presentations, we not only educate and inform our guests about dolphins through behavior presentations, but provide these cetaceans with robust and dynamic training and enrichment programs as part of our passionate commitment to foster the animals’ physical and mental health.
All training sessions, whether for husbandry or behavior demonstration purposes, are based on positive reinforcement techniques. The animals can choose to participate or not, and food is never withheld if the dolphin chooses not to participate.
Enrichment opportunities are also provided throughout the day to the dolphins with Environmental Enrichment Devices (EEDs). All devices, which are carefully inspected for durability and safety by Dolphin Bay staff, contribute to encouraging mental and physical stimulation and maintaining optimal welfare.
Breeding & Sustainability
All of the Texas State Aquarium’s dolphins were born in protective environments.
Cooperative breeding programs between facilities help to grow and maintain healthy cetacean populations and support genetic diversity within the overall population.
Diet & Nutrition
Our dolphins receive optimal nutrition from their caregivers. Each dolphin can receive about 5 percent of their body weight in food every day – as much as 20 pounds of fish, per dolphin. Fish diets are comprised mostly of capelin, Atlantic herring, and Pacific herring – which is held to restaurant-quality standards and supplemented with vitamins. Dolphin Bay staff inspect every fish in the dolphins’ diet, carefully monitor each dolphin, and provides a specific diet to ensure they get the right amount and type of nutritious food.
Each dolphin is fed multiple times throughout day, including during training, husbandry, and enrichment sessions.
Dolphins in human care always have these plentiful food sources available and are free from the stressors that their ocean-dwelling counterparts have, like excessive foraging or a decrease in food sources. Through observing the daily diet of our dolphins, we also have the ability to learn about the animals’ dietary needs at every stage of growth and reproductive status.2 Research into the caloric needs of various species of cetaceans provides valuable insights into how sensitive each species may be to changing ocean environments and availability of certain prey. This information can help prioritize monitoring and management of various species within marine environments exploited by humans or affected by global climate change.3
Habitat & Water Quality
Zoological experts recognize that cetaceans thrive when they live in responsive environments that keep them engaged – both mentally and physically.4 The Texas State Aquarium’s 450,000-gallon Dolphin BAy exhibit exceeds the high standards for habitats set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This habitat was carefully designed through information gained by studying and understanding dolphin behavior, and it was designed to be dynamic, engaging and to surpass the scientific recommendations for animal care.
We are constantly assessing the dolphin in our care and using the information we gain to optimize habitat design and improve husbandry practice.5
During your visit, you may notice the presence of algae in the Dolphin Bay exhibit. Algae is allowed to grow in a limited capacity to help create a more natural environment for the dolphins. Water quality is given the highest priority. All 450,000 gallons in the exhibit are filtered using high-tech systems around the clock, and water is regularly tested. Dolphin Bay staff also monitor water quality equipment daily and SCUBA divers manually clean the exhibit every morning.
Health Care
Our dolphins are provided the highest quality of health care and receive regular medical checkups. These check-ups allow caregivers to identify changes in morphology and behavior that could indicate potential health concerns, allowing treatment to begin earlier. Cetaceans in professional care are trained using positive reinforcement for behaviors that allow caregivers to access and assess their health quickly and safely.6
Through routine health monitoring and care, which has lead to advancements in the scientific understanding of cetaceans, zoological experts like those at the Texas State Aquarium have been able to improve diagnostics and therapeutics to provide treatment for illness and disease.8 This knowledge not only benefits dolphins and whales in professional care, but has contributed to scores of cetaceans who have been rescued, treated for injury and rehabilitated for release.
Research
Zoos and aquariums are leaders in cetacean care and conservation research both within aquariums and in the wild.
In a cetacean welfare study led by Brookfield Zoo, we’re using special devices called M-TAGs to periodically track the dolphin’s movements and other behaviors to better understand them. Video recording and biological sampling are also used to monitor the dolphins’ health and behavior. This data will be combined with that of other institutions to evaluate how physical habitat, environmental enrichment and animal training influences behavior and physiology across a population of cetaceans in managed care.
AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are experts in cetacean care and conservation, providing researchers unprecedented access to species and data which is sometimes impossible to gain from field research. The knowledge gained from zoos and aquariums in combination with field research produces robust insights that contribute to cetacean conservation. Knowledge gained from researching cetaceans includes advancements in understanding antibiotic resistance in wild cetaceans,9consequences of mercury emissions and shipping noises on wild beluga whales,10 11diseases afflicting wild cetacean populations like morbillivirus,12 and other human and natural threats to dolphin health.13
Footnotes
Miller, L.J., Zeigler-Hill, V., Mellen, J., Koeppel, J., Greer, T., and Kuczaj, S. (2013) Dolphin shows and interactive programs: benefits for conservation education? Zoo Biology, 32: 45-53
Reddy, M., Kamolnick, T., Curry, C., and Skaar, D. (1994). Energy Requirements for the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Relation to Sex Age & Reproductive Status. Marine Mammals: Public Display and Research. 1 (1): 26-31
Spitz, J., Trites, A. W., Becquet, V., Cherel, Y., Galois, R., and Ridoux, V. “Cost of Living Dictates what Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Eat: The Importance of Prey Quality on Predator Foraging Strategies.” Public Library of Science One 7, no. 11 (2012).
Markowitz, H. and H. Gavazzi. 1995. Eleven principles for improving the quality of captive animal life. Lab Anim. April: 30-33.
Bassos, M. K., & Wells, R. S. (1998). Effect of pool features on the behavior of two bottlenose dolphins. Marine Mammal Science, 12, 321–324
Shinder, D. M. 1983. Separation and removal of marine mammals for medical examination. Annual IMATA Conf., Apple Valley, MN. PP. 93-102.
Jensen, E., W. Van Bonn, and S. Ridgway. 1996. Advances in Tursiops Gastoenterology. 1996. American Association of Zoo Veterinarians Conf., Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Nov. 1996.
Ridgway, S.H. 1967. Anesthetization of porpoises for major surgery. Science 158:510-512.
Schaefer, AM, Goldstein JD, Reif JS, Fair PA, Bossart GD, Antibiotic-resistant organisms cultured from Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting estuarine waters of Charleston SC and Indian River Lagoon, Fl. EcoHealth. 6: 33-41, 2009.
Frouin H., L. L. Loseto, G. A. Stern, M. Haulena, P. S. Ross. 2012. Mercury toxicity in beluga whale lymphocytes: limited effects of selenium protection. Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) (impact factor: 3.12). 03/2012; 109:185-93. DOI:10.1016/j.aquatox.2011.09.021
Vergara, V., Barrett-Lennard, L.G., Michaud, R. 2010. What can captive whales tell us about their wild counterparts? Identification, usage, and ontogeny of contact calls in belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) International Journal of Comparative Psychology 2010: 23, 278-309.
Bossart, G.D. et al. 2010. Morbillivirus infection in free-ranging Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the southeastern United Staes: Seroepidemiologic and pathologic evidence of subclinical infection. Vet. Microbio. 143(2-4): 160-166.
“Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.” Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.