08.08.2019 – Blank space

Our charismatic summer visitors, the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) were the cetaceans sighted on all five tours today. The vast Atlantic almost seemed like an enormous blue desert to our spotters struggling on land to provide us with sightings, so encounters with these exceptionally interactive dolphins were just what the doctor ordered! The spotted dolphins are so interactive that we even slide into the water to go snorkelling with them and most of the time the animals approach us with curiosity. Both in and out of the water, these dolphins deliver visible proof of why captivity is not only unnecessary but also insanely cruel for marine mammals. 

First of all, dolphins live in a vast habitat that is void of any geographic barriers. Atlantic spotted dolphins generally prefer warmer waters and follow the summer across the latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean and they are free to move around as they please. No enclosure can match the immense dimensions of an ocean. Dolphins also navigate and communicate using bio sonar, emitting sound waves generated by the melon-organ in their foreheads and this makes tanks a deafening sound entrapment for these animals. Sound-waves are also used for hunting, an activity that is both a means to an end to the animals as well as a past-time activity that helps strengthen social bonds and group coordination tactics. Rewarding dolphins with dead fish for doing ridiculous tricks is a bizarre substitute for these apex predators.

Like all other toothed whales, Atlantic spotted dolphins are extremely social animals often forming school of up to 200 individuals consisting of smaller friendship circles of animals. Chucking such emotionally sophisticated beings into an enclosure with other strange animals is an absolute psychological nightmare. The ocean is also full of other species and lessons to be learned by the incredible dolphin brain, an organ that is severely under-stimulated in captivity, leading to depression and a shorter life; dolphins are thought to not even reach a third of the life span possible in the wild when in captivity, despite the current degree of human degradation in the worlds oceans.

Above all, we rob dolphins of their warranted dignity in captivity and educate our kids that that’s ok. These institutions pose as educational facilities when in fact people are only getting an extremely deterred vision of a disturbed animal that should be thriving wild and free in its natural habitat. We try to encourage people to help preserve our oceans and hope that people realise that every dolphin in captivity leaves a blank space in its natural habitat.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

17:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

Stenella

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

12:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

18:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins